Super Mario: Four Hammers
by Yoshevil
Summary: After inadvertantly freeing a powerful Yoshi, the Marios and Warios must work together to seal it away once again.
1. Chapter 1

**Bet you thought you'd have to wait a while for my next piece! WRONG! Here's the intro and chapter 1!**

Intro**: **The Legend of Yoshevil

**watch?v=28udOm5DFjw**

Long ago, before Mario and Luigi set foot in the Mushroom Kingdom, long before the evil Koopa Klan terrorized the Mushroom Kingdom, long before the Mushroom Kingdom was even on the map, there lived a small tribe of Toads. These Toads were known as the Hammer Keepers, guardians of a set of four magical hammers capable of protecting them from even the most fearsome of enemies. These hammers were known as the Quadramashers. The Hammer Keepers were a peaceful tribe, and hoped that they would never see the day that these four mighty hammers would have to be used.

However, that day came. A mighty demon known as Yoshevil suddenly appeared one day, and threatened the tribe's existence. The creature rampaged through the village without any warning, until the only hope remained in the Quadramashers. Four warriors whose names have been forgotten by time took up the duties of the hammers and waged a mighty battle with the beast, forcing him into a small shrine. They then smashed all four of the Quadramashers into the ground at the same time, sealing away the evil Yoshi for so long as the Quadramashers remained in their resting place. The shrine was then deemed a place of remembrance for the tribe, and the tribal leaders placed a monument for all that approached the shrine, telling the tale of the brave heroes, the evil Yoshevil, and warning all not to disturb the legendary hammers. However… greed rarely heeds the words of the wise…

Chapter One: Enter the Hammer Heads

**watch?v=9Kqsr0r6HOU**

Wario and Waluigi were hunting for treasure in the Koopahari Desert one day, searching for whatever would make them richer. The sun was beating down with nothing in sight but endless sand dunes, and their shirts were so full of sweat, you could fill up a bucket between the two of them.

"It's to hot!" Waluigi complained. "Let's just turn back! There's nothing here, and besides, Mario might be out here!"

"Oh, shut up!" Wario said as he looked around. "Nothing is more important than money! Besides, if Mario shows up, well, I'm-a Wario, I'm-a gonna win!"

Waluigi just rolled his eyes and did as Wario said. Besides, he knew it was futile to argue with Wario whenever he had even the slightest hint that a single coin might be laying around.

After searching for a while, Waluigi saw a cave. "Let's check in there," he said to Wario, "It's the only thing we've seen for at least twenty miles."

Meanwhile, Mario and Luigi were in the Koopahari Desert as well. They were driving along in the Red Fire, testing out a new set of shocks they had installed. They drove over the countless sand dunes with no problem until they saw a strange stone tower right in the middle of the desert.

"What's that?" Mario asked as he gently braked to a stop. "I don't think I've ever seen this before."

"Looks like something from Egypt," Luigi replied as he hopped off of the back of the kart. "Probably nothing."

"Let's check it out, just to make sure," Mario said.

"Oh no you don't!" Luigi argued. "I am not being dragged into another adventure just as we begin to have a bit of relaxation!"

"What's the worst that could happen?" Mario asked. "Besides, it doesn't look like anyone has been here for years."

"Yeah, and if you weren't lying to me, then no one had been in the Palace of Shadows for a thousand years, and yet you found plenty of reasons for me to be glad I wasn't there with you!"

"Come on, Luigi! Do you really think that there will be an evil spirit that could even begin to compare to anything we've faced?"

"Well… Usually there are dark clouds along with thunderstorms when something bad is about to happen…"

"Well then, come on!" Mario said as he headed into the stone tower.

Wario and Waluigi walked through the cave with no light of any sort to be found. "It's too dark…" Waluigi complained. "I can't even see my hand in front of my- OUCH!"

Waluigi stopped in his tracks. "What is it, you big baby?" Wario said rudely.

"I bumped into a wall," Waluigi sneered. "And before you go around calling people big babies, maybe you should look in the mirror!"

"That's it!" Wario shouted as he blindly punched around, trying to hit Waluigi.

"Over here!" Waluigi shouted before quickly moving away from the wall he bumped into. Wario punched the wall and it collapsed, revealing a torch-lit hallway made of stone.

"Ha!" Wario shouted. "I told you there was treasure here! Let's go to the left!"

"Finally, something we can agree on."

They took five steps into the hallway when they heard a large rumbling noise. They turned around to see that the cave they were in had collapsed.

"Way to go, Einstein! Now we're trapped!" Wario shouted.

"Me? You're the one who punched the wall!"

"Shut up and look for money!"

"Did you hear that?" Luigi asked after hearing a loud rustle in the distance. "It sounded like an earthquake!"

"Did you feel an earthquake?" Mario asked. "Besides, if this place couldn't survive earthquakes, I don't think it could be this old."

"O-Okay," Luigi said as he cautiously walked forward.

The tower was simply a downward-spiraling staircase inside, with torches every so often, seeming to go on for about fifty feet. When the two of them reached the bottom, they saw a long hallway with a hole in the wall to the left.

"How far can this thing go?" Luigi asked. "I can't even see where it ends!"

Wario and Waluigi explored the hall, which seemed almost as endless as the desert they had been in only moments ago. Finally, after about and hour, they reached a small room that was almost empty… except for a four golden statues of Toads in the corners, with a stone hammer at each of the statues' feet.

"Jackpot!" Wario shouted. "Help me get these statues loose from these walls!"

"These hammers look strange…" Waluigi said, ignoring Wario.

"Forget the hammers!" Wario shouted. "We ain't archeologists, you know!"

"Do you hear footsteps?" Waluigi asked, then looked at Wario and realized that nothing could take Wario out of his trance for money.

"Come on!" Wario said to himself. "Wario needs a new castle!"

"Maybe you should get a new brain first…" Waluigi murmured.

Waluigi joined Wario and the two of them had no luck removing the statues. They both heard something else in the hallway that sounded like familiar voices.

"Finally!" Luigi sighed as he and his brother reached the end of the hallway.

Mario took a step into the room and immediately saw Wario and Waluigi tugging on a statue. Wario and Waluigi saw Mario at the same time and proceeded to attack the heroic plumber.

"Who's number one now?" Wario shouted as he picked up one of the hammers and swung it at Mario.

Mario quickly rolled out of the way as Luigi came into the room.

"Hey look!" Luigi said. "Hammers!"

"Good idea!" Mario shouted as he and Luigi each took a hammer.

"Hey! I want a hammer too!" Waluigi said as he took the last hammer out of the ground.

All of the sudden, the whole place started shaking.

"Now that is an earthquake!" Mario said to Luigi.

**Uh-oh, now what's going to happen? Tune in next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Greetings, readers! Here's chapter 2! In it you get to me the most evil original villain of all time: ME! (or, at least, what I'd look like as a 10,000 year old Yoshi demon…) Enjoy!**

Chapter 2: Yoshevil's Curse

**watch?v=qcs5vyOS1Lg**

Everyone stopped fighting and looked around.

"I'm too rich to die!" Wario complained. "I'm outta here!"

Wario started for the door, when all of the sudden the quake stopped. Then, as if by some invisible man, Wario was pushed back into the room. The four of them heard a sinister laugh. All of a sudden, a pipe made out of stone appeared in the middle of the room. Out of it appeared a black Yoshi with demonic red eyes wearing what looked like black body armor, black boots, and a black cape. On his right hand was a black ring.

"Gweheheh!" said the Yoshi as it appeared out the pipe. "I am Yoshevil, wreaker of havoc, master of destruction, and lord of chaos! Thanks to you four, I have been released from that infernal prison! Now, after ten thousand years, I've finally been released by you!"

"Ten thousand years and that's the best villainous monologue you could come up with?" Wario mocked. "That's pathetic!"

"FOOL!" Yoshevil shouted as his eyes started glowing. He then shot lightning out of his hands at Wario.

"Luigi, any suggestions?" Mario asked.

"Me?" Luigi said perplexed. "You're the hero!"

"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Yoshevil shouted. "If you won't pay my offer any mind, then how about a curse?!"

"You never made us an offer!" Waluigi sneered.

"I was going to ask you to be my servants or die, but it seems like that would be more foolish of me than letting someone put me in that prison! Now, share each other's pain!"

The room seemed to look like a film negative for a few seconds, and then everything seemed normal.

"Ha! Nothing happened, you ugly lizard!" Wario shouted.

"Oh really?" Yoshevil asked sarcastically. He inhaled deeply and then shot flames out of his mouth at Waluigi.

Waluigi jumped around, trying to dodge the flames, and shouted, "What did I do?! It's Wario you should be attacking!"

Finally, one of the fireballs hit Waluigi. Mario, Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi all shouted out in pain when the flame hit Waluigi.

"Gweheheh!" laughed Yoshevil. "This is almost as much fun as rampaging villages! I'll just leave you four idiots to figure this out for yourselves!"

With that, Yoshevil flew up and vanished through the ceiling.

**watch?v=28udOm5DFjw**

"Is he gone?" asked a small voice.

"Yes, he is," said another.

"Who else is here?" Wario said as he held up a fist.

"We aren't your enemies," said a third. "We just wish to help you four to reimprison Yoshevil."

"I'm not interested in crazy Yoshis," Wario said. "The only thing I want to hunt is treasure!"

Wario tried to make a run for the door again, but this time was stopped by four Podoboos, one red, one green, one yellow, and one purple.

"Ghosts!" Wario shouted.

"You all must work together to reimprison Yoshevil!" said the purple Podoboo. "The fate of the world depends on your teamwork!"

They didn't even try to hold it in… The four of them were instantly rolling on the floor laughing louder than a jet plane.

"I'd rather work with Bowser again than with Wario!" Mario explained after regaining his composure.

"I wouldn't help Waluigi if I it meant that I'd never get to go on an adventure again!"

"I wouldn't work with that sewage head for a million coins!" Waluigi shouted.

"And I wouldn't do anything for Mario unless you bribed me!" Wario said.

"You don't get it, do you?" the red Podoboo asked. "He did use his curse on you, didn't he?"

"Well, yes, but it didn't do anything," Mario confirmed.

"Yes, it did two things," the green Podoboo disagreed. "First of all, it makes it so when one of you gets hurt, you all feel the pain."

"Guess that means that we can't fight each other," Mario realized. "But why do we have to work together? "

"Second of all," said the yellow, "if you don't stop him by the time of the next complete solar eclipse, he will gain near infinite power and turn the whole world into a desolate wasteland!"

"So why do I have to work with green bean here?" Waluigi complained. "Wario and I hate being the hero!"

"Without the four who were chosen to restore power to the Quadramashers, the seal cannot be recreated," explained the red Podoboo.

"The four who are chosen will see the color of the hammer they hold as each of them should be," continued the green one.

"As you can see, the Quadramashers are glowing in your hands," the yellow Podoboo pointed out.

The four of them looked at the hammer each of them held, and saw it was true; Mario's glowed red, Luigi's green, Wario's yellow, and Waluigi's purple.

"Fine, I'll help," Mario said unwillingly.

"Same here, I guess," Luigi agreed.

"Count me in… But don't think that I'm going to be happy about this," Waluigi said.

"You wimp!" Wario shouted. "There is no way I'm doing this! I'm not putting my neck on the line just to help out the one person in the world I hate most!"

"You can keep the black ring he wears if you succeed," the purple Podoboo offered.

Wario then turned around, put his fist out towards Mario, then gently punched Mario on the shoulder. "Like I was saying," Wario said, faking a smile, "no one messes with my buddy Mario… except me!"

"So how exactly do we restore power to these hammers?" Luigi asked.

"Well… we're not even sure if the power source still exists," the red Podoboo admitted.

"It has been over ten thousand years since it was last used…" the green explained.

"It was unique, only one of its kind," the yellow picked up.

"Shut up and tell us what it is already!" Wario complained.

"Well, I doubt you've ever heard of it," the purple started. "But it is known as…"

**WHERE?! Where is it!? Sorry, but you'll have to wait until next time to find out!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Preparations

**Author's Note: From now on, the four Podoboos will be named by color. **

**watch?v=28udOm5DFjw**

"…the Shrine of Unity."

"So where exactly is this Shrine of Unity supposed to be?" Mario asked, eager to get this adventure over with.

"It isn't a physical shrine," Red stated. "It is made of pure energy and appears in the middle of this room when the four statues you see in the corners of this room are completed."

"Way to go, fatso!" Mario shouted at Wario. "Now we have to fix these statues!"

"You should talk, sewer brains!" Wario rebutted. "You're the one that removed the first hammer!"

"Stop it, you two!" Red and Yellow cried in unison. "The statues need the representations of the hammers you now hold. They aren't complete because they are missing the Quadramashers."

"So we need to find copies of the hammers to put into the statues?" Luigi asked.

"Sounds simple enough, we'll just make new copies," Waluigi commented.

"That won't work, they aren't copies," Purple added. "They are representations of the Quadramashers, and if they've been destroyed, hope is already lost."

"Well, only one way to find out," Wario said. "How do we find them?"

"There is one in each of the four compass directions," Red started, "where our villages used to be, and may still be existing today."

"Let's go east, then," Luigi suggested, "so we can stop by the castle to get supplies."

Wario and Waluigi gave each other a slightly worried look. "And what are we supposed to do?" Wario asked. "It's not like the princess is just going to let us into the castle after what happened last time."

"So it was you that sabotaged Peach's kart!" Luigi said. "Guess I owe Mario fifty coins then."

"I told you, Luigi," Mario smirked. "Bowser would have just destroyed it completely. Besides, I was just kidding about the bet."

"I'll take the money then!" Wario jumped into the conversation.

"Let's focus on the Shrine of Unity," Purple reminded them. "If you are going to the east, then I believe that would be the Earth Temple."

"Why do I feel like someone put me in the wrong game by Miyamoto?" Mario asked. "When is the next solar eclipse anyway?"

"I'm sure we've got plenty of time," Waluigi commented. "They are pretty rare, after all."

"Still, we'd better make sure," Luigi said. "And I know just who to ask for help."

After a long and very crowded ride in the Red Fire, the Mario Bros. and Wario Bros. arrived at the castle. When they got out, they saw a large crowd of Toads circled around a dome-shaped object with a propeller on top.

"What's that?" Luigi asked. "Did Professor Gadd make a new invention or something?"

Some Toads spotted the Mario Bros. and ran up to them to explain. "It's a miracle! He just appeared here, unconscious. Then, when he finally woke up, he was stuck!"

"He who?" Wario asked.

The group of Toads all started murmuring amongst themselves, shocked at the sight of Wario and Mario that close to each other and not challenging the other to a competition of some sort, and most of them just plain scared of Wario.

"Hey! I've been a hero before!" Wario complained.

"Name one time!" said a Toad with orange spots.

"You, a hero?" said another with blue spots.

Then a little Toad, about three years old, said, "You big liar, you the most meanest me-" Then, the little Toad's parents came up to it and picked it up, shielding it from Wario.

"They're waiting!" Waluigi said. "There has to be at least once. I mean, you have to have been forced into doing something nice at least once."

After a few minutes, Wario grinned and said, "What about that time that Bowser locked the Stupor Mario Bros. in the castle and I saved everyone?"

"That was Yoshi, we had to force you to help after Luigi saved you!" Mario commented. "Although I don't see why we needed you, we could have gotten by just fine on our own!"

"Hey! That's right!" said a muffled, however familiar, voice from the strange machine. "You were the one who took that one Star from me when no one could remember who took it! I was beginning to wonder if there even was a fourth hero!"

"BOWSER?!" the four of them shouted in disbelief.

**watch?v=aO_z2nO3ByM**

Luigi went up to the machine, and saw that it was a Klown Kopter turned upside down. Bowser had his face in the dirt, nostrils just above the soil, allowing him to breath, but only out of his nose.

"Wait a minute!" Bowser shouted (or at least tried to, anyway). "Mario, Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi, not attacking each other? Just when I thought this day couldn't get any weirder. After that mutiny and seeing everyone in my army fighting each other, I thought that something weird was happening. I've got it! By Mario and Wario not arguing, they've upset the natural order of the universe! Ha! I'm a regular Einstein, right?" Bowser asked the question threateningly.

All of a sudden, E. Gadd came running out of the castle screaming, "It's horrible! I tried to stop them, but even with all my experience, I didn't even phase them!"

"What in the world is going on here?" Mario asked, but to no avail as the crowd only got louder and harder to distinguish.

"EVERYBODY PUT A MUSHROOM IN IT!" shouted Waluigi, and the crowd then was silent.

"Okay now, Bowser," Luigi said, "since I'm sure everyone is eager for the princess' dungeon to get its first use, we'll start with you. Tell us everything that happened."

"Why would I help you out?" Bowser asked. "I'm not talking, there's nothing you can do to make me!"

Wario took out his Quadramasher and ran towards Bowser with a menacing look.

"Okay! I'll talk!" Bowser said. "Just don't let boogers for brains there hurt my beautiful shell!"

Mario couldn't help but laugh at Bowser's comment, so he did so. "Sorry about that. Please, explain."

"It all started when I was dreaming about killing you," Bowser started. "I was really upset when I woke up to the sound of Wendy's whining before I could even see the Thwomp crush you two plumbers. She was complaining about not having enough bows, a normal complaint from her. I told her to go ahead and steal some from Monstrotown. I had a grudge against those quitters anyways. I got up, ate some fried Goomba, and-"

"We're getting nowhere with this," Luigi interrupted. "Just tell us what you meant when you said this day couldn't get weirder."

"I'll get there when I'm good and ready! Now, where was I? Oh yes, Ludwig said he lost track of Wario and Waluigi around noon, after that last tennis tournament, I went ahead and placed some tracking devices on their clothes, and believe me, you don't even want to imagine how rarely Wario takes them off. Ludwig said it was due to some super natural interference of some sort, but to be honest, I didn't really care, I was just thinking about getting revenge on you two.

"So then, everything was very peaceful for about fifteen minutes, Roy didn't even try to kill Larry once! Then, it happens, I hear Bullet Bills being fired, Bob-ombs exploding, and all my troops shouting, and so I figure that you mistook me for another one of the princess' captors. But when I get out there to give my monologue, I see my troops fighting each other! Podoboos igniting Bob-ombs, Boos chasing Goombas, Dry Bones attacking Koopa Troo-"

"I've got it!" Prof. Gadd interrupted. "All of the troops that betrayed you were your ghosts and other undead minions, weren't they?"

"Shut up and let me finish already! So then, when the Hotfoots started to burn the castle down, I decided to just run away and start life over. After all, I had a few 1-Ups to spare. I got in this Klown Kopter, started to flee from the battlefield, and then this demonic Yoshi started to chase me! I turned around to throw Mechakoopas at him, but they went right through him. Then, the Yoshi's eyes started to glow an eerie light, and next thing I know, a tornado dropped five feet in front of me, sucking me in and shooting me out. Next thing I know, I'm surrounded by Toads that are singing 'The Wicked Witch is Dead' all around me."

"That explains everything!" Gadd said. "Someone has unleashed a terrible demon that I thought was only a myth! Its name is-"

"Yoshevil," the four plumbers and the Podoboos interrupted.

"Why, yes," Gadd said, surprised, and then he spotted the Podoboos. "And that means that those four Podoboos there must be the four Toads that originally defeated him!"

"Guilty as charged," joked Yellow.

"Then we'd better hurry, we've only got five days!" Gadd exclaimed. "And this onslaught of Boos isn't just going to try to scare us, they want to-"

"Put an end to life as we know it?" Bowser asked. "I really, really would like to get out of here now…"

"Precisely!" Gadd said. "Which is why I need to tell you, some Boos stole the portrificationizer and-"

"Released all the ghosts again?" Mario asked.

"Actually, no. They only took three: King Boo, Boolosus, and Vincent Van Gore."

"Well, come on and get me out!" Bowser shouted.

"But that means that we'll have to fight two of the toughest Boos ever and- wait a minute!" Luigi exclaimed, "Why did they take Van Gore?"

Gadd shrugged and said, "It doesn't matter. I decided to release a ghost myself and ask her for help, but then, when I went back, the machine was gone! It wasn't broken, sabotaged, or even left as ashes of a burnt down machine, it was just, gone!"

"Who in the netherworld were you planning on letting out?" Luigi asked in a very confused voice.

"Madame Clairvoya, of course, the only ghost I've ever known to willingly go into the Poltergust 3000."

"We can help you with that," Red said, "although we can't put any of the ghosts back into the paintings."

"Well then," Waluigi started, "what are we waiting for?"

Inside Gadd's lab, the professor pressed a tile on the wall, revealing a set of Poltergusts, model 3002! "Before we go in any further, we'll need these," Gadd explained as he handed one to each of the four rivals and then took one for himself. "The lab is infested beyond belief," Gadd explained. "Luigi, would you lead us?"

"Me?" Luigi asked. "Mario's the leader!"

"Nonsense, my boy!" Gadd argued. "You're the one who knows how to use the Poltergust best!"

"He's got a point, Luigi," Mario agreed. "So, who we gonna call?"

Luigi smiled, and went forward into the lab. Despite the professor's warnings, the lab was surprisingly empty. Nothing was there, the only things out of place were the paintings and the machine the ghosts had stolen. Luigi grabbed Madame Clairvoya's picture, and then the Podoboos burnt it up, releasing the elderly ghost.

"What was that?" Madame Clairvoya asked. "I saw flames and then my afterlife flashed before my eyes! I thought that those Podoboos had it in for me, and then-"

"What do you make of this?" Luigi asked as he handed his Quadramasher to Clairvoya.

"It seems as though you've been interrupting people a lot today, Luigi, and the reason behind it seems to be the fact that you're upset about losing a bet to your brother. I also see- NO! It can't be, I see the sun setting, never to rise again! I see forests ablaze, lakes gone dry, whole cities in ruin! I see a Yoshi, one with power that is stronger than anything I've ever seen! Then, this item loses its power to speak to me. Anyone have anything else they found near this?"

The others all handed her their Quadramashers, and she continued. "I see that you need four hammers, each part of a statue that powers an ancient shrine. The first you should seek is to the east, where a recently dethroned king awaits. The next, to the south of the shrine, where a powerful monster disguised as treasure holds the next one, then to the west of the shrine and our current location, there lies the third, as well as an old friend. Lastly, to the north, I see the remains of an evil that once controlled another great evil that you have fought. And, after all this is done, I see this horrible titan of evil that claims to be ruler over all Boos, but my strength ebbs away, I do not know where he lies."

**Next time: King Boo returns!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Welcome to chapter 4! Enjoy!**

Chapter 4: Who the Boo who Rules the Boos, and who the Boo that Cries Boohoo?

**watch?v=AUQ1ROj-0rU**

Meanwhile, right after Yoshevil terrorized Bowser, Yoshevil was in his hideout. Yoshevil was anxiously awaiting the arrival of his servants, knowing that they should bring along a whole army of undead troops. But he really didn't care about the army… he would have been just as happy with five Boos doing his bidding at the time, as that was all he really needed to get what he wanted. The hideout was dark, too dark to see anything other than what little bit of the place was light by candles . He walked into a hall. It was still too dark to see much, but there were columns every few feet, and a red carpet was in the center of the entire hall, which went from the room that Yoshevil came from, all the way down a flight of stairs and into another room.

When he got to the bottom, he was unable to go through the stairs and into the room they led into, but he knew why. "Honey, I'm home!" Yoshevil said in an annoyed, but yet not threatening voice.

"Took you long enough!" said a voice from inside the room. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever be released! Did the slaves bring someone?"

"No, I figured you had a particular request," Yoshevil said, still outside the door. "You always have been pretty picky, and if I'm going to rule the wastelands with you, I wouldn't want to be fighting with you about who I got."

"Actually, there is someone I had in mind," the mysterious woman said. "Her name is Peach; she is the princess of a very recently founded kingdom, not even a thousand years old. She is the one I want to take, if not just for the fact that her body is strong, then mainly for the fact that I want revenge on her. Besides, I heard the one that captured your brother lives there."

"I will command the slaves to return to the castle as soon as they arrive. And what about the seal?" Yoshevil asked, "Why won't you remove it?"

"I don't have much of a choice; someone named Mario renewed the seal."

"Mario, Mario… I think I've heard that name before. Oh yes, he was one of the four imbeciles that released me."

"I want him destroyed."

"He is not a threat to us, we will make him and his three friends suffer first, let them fail in their mission to stop me. Besides, I like toying with the minds of mortals."

"Do not underestimate them! I made the mistake of underestimating just one of them, and now I have to wait even longer before we can complete our plans."

Yoshevil chuckled evilly, and then flew back up to the first room he was in. A large group of Boos was there with four objects with them: King Boo's portrait, Vincent Van Gore's portrait, Boolossus's portrait, and the Portrificationizer. Yoshevil released all of them, starting with Boolossus, and ending with King Boo.

**watch?v=mc8mfzUxnqg**

"Finally! About time someone let me out of there! Now, I com-" King Boo started shouting until he looked at Yoshevil. "I come here to help you, Brother. I sincerely thank you for-"

**Stop the music then play this: watch?v=qcs5vyOS1Lg**

"Shut up and explain yourself, 'King' Boo!" Yoshevil shouted. "Why didn't you release me or your sister-in-law?"

"First of all, in case you didn't notice, I was trapped in a painting," King Boo complained. "And second of all, not all of our so-called 'slaves' are so obedient."

"What do you mean our slaves?" Yoshevil quirked. "I don't see why I shouldn't just put you back into the painting right now!"

"Please, forgive me," King Boo said, "I can help you!"

"And what possible help could you possibly give me?"

"Because, I know where one of the statues is!"

"Very well then, you have one chance! But before you go, I would like my gem back."

"Fine, didn't seem to help much anyways."

King Boo handed over his crown to his older brother, who then shrank it and put it in an indentation on his ring.

"And if you fail me," Yoshevil said as King Boo was about to fly away, "I will personally make sure that being stuck in a painting is the least of your worries."

With that, King Boo flew away, taking Vincent Van Gore with him. Boolossus was about to go too, when Yoshevil told him to stop.

"What did we do?" Boolossus asked nervously. "Please, it wasn't our fault! Nothing can go right when we have to follow the orders of your moronic brother!"

"That is why I want you to do something completely different," Yoshevil explained. "I honestly couldn't care less about the Quadramashers, they are no threat to me! I just figured I'd let him fail, that way I could give myself time to think of a more… appropriate punishment for him."

"Very wise, Master," Boolossus said. "And what do you want us to do?"

"First of all, if you want to refer to yourself in a plural form, and then separate first, it really annoys me when you refer to yourself as a 'we' when I only see one Boo in front of me."

"Please forgive u- we mean me, please forgive me."

Yoshevil sighed and then continued. "My wife wants to use the body of one named Peach. She is in the castle you were imprisoned in. Bring her back, and you will be second only to my wife and me."

"A simple task, Master, I can do that before sunset," Boolossus said. "We, er, I shall not fail you, Master!"

**[Can anyone guess who Yoshevil's wife is yet? If so, I'll give you everything in my pocket! What? I need to get rid of this lint somehow!] **

Our heroes, as well as the Wario Bros, were following the Podoboos to the first temple. The area nearby was a dark, spooky forest.

"This is it," Green said to the four heroes. "This is where my village once stood."

"I know I've been here before!" Luigi shouted. "That shed! That's where E. Gadd's old laboratory was!"

"Hey, I remember this place too," Mario said. "This is where the Boos made that ghost mansion and turned me into a painting."

Mario pondered for a brief moment, then pulled out the Gameboy Horror SP and asked Gadd, "Why is it that I could still move while I was trapped in a painting, but none of the ghosts could?"

"I'm not quite sure," the professor admitted. "An interesting conundrum. After this is all over with, I'll have to look into that."

"So where's this Earth Temple?" Waluigi asked. "All I see is a worn down shed."

"It's underground, follow me," Green explained. He led them through the shed and into the room where Gadd had originally put King Boo's portrait. Green burnt the wall that King Boo's portrait used to hang on, and behind it was a door with a hole in it shaped like a Quadramasher.

"We won't be able to help you inside of there," Red explained. "Only those who have a Quadramasher, and those who once held the green Quadramasher, may enter. We'll wait here while you five go on ahead."

"Luigi, would you place your Quadramasher into the hole, and then remove it?" Green explained. "After that, you shall face one of the four trials, the other three are in the other temples. After you pass each of them, the respective Quadramasher will regain its power."

Luigi did as he said, and the door opened. The four heroes along with their flaming guide went on ahead. Inside, they could see a huge room with four torches in the center, each of the flames black. Out of them appeared four Podoboos, all laughing sinisterly.

**watch?v=38U9xcKJ1nc**

"So you've returned," one of the black Podoboos said. "I thought that you would never come back. I've been waiting here ever since you and your friends left us here!"

"What is he talking about?" Wario asked. "I've never even seen you."

"He was talking to me," Green explained. "He's a dark copy of me, and the others are of those of my friends."

"Correction, we are superior parts of you, which you foolishly decided to throw away," said one of the black Podoboos (they all look the same).

"No one calls evil superior so long as my brother and I still stand," Mario said. "The last time Bowser did that, I gave him so many bruises, his bruises had bruises."

"A fine challenge, plumber," a black Podoboo said, "but you will fail!"

"How did he know that we're plumbers?" Luigi asked.

"I'll explain later," Green said. "Watch out!"

One of the black Podoboos rushed towards Luigi, who quickly dodged out of the way. Wario was the first to try to strike back; he took out his hammer and swung it at the Podoboo that had tried to attack Luigi. The Podoboo shattered into smoke.

"That's it?" Wario asked. "This is too easy!"

But he spoke too soon, as the Podoboo quickly reformed. The Podoboo then set fire to Wario's hat. "Yeow!" the four heroes shouted. **[Yoshevil's curse, remember?]**

Wario threw his hat on the ground and stomped out the fire. Wario then turned around to see that the four black Podoboos were still there.

"You can only harm the one that matches the color of your Quadramasher!" Green shouted. "Luigi, go for the one that just burnt Wario! Mario, behind that one and to your left! Wario, there's one behind Mario, get him! The last one is yours, Waluigi!"

They tried to do as he said, but the black Podoboos still reformed. The black Podoboos laughed and merged together into an Antifryguy, a mixture between an Anti Guy and a Fryguy. Mario, undeterred, threw his Quadramasher at the resulting Shy Guy, but it flew right through him. The Shy Guy inhaled deeply, and then exhaled flames.

"I don't remember ever seeing a Fry Guy or a Shy Guy do that before," Mario said. "Any advice, Green?"

"I hate to say it, but this is nothing like what happened to us when we faced this trial, we simply had to fight our dark selves," Green said, confused. "But then again, they weren't Podoboos at the time, and neither were we."

"Any ideas, Green Bean?" Waluigi asked.

"I just told you, I'm sorry but we have no idea what you're up against," Green re-emphasized.

"He was talking to me," Luigi explained, "and I do have one."

Luigi pulled out his Gameboy Horror and scanned Antifryguy.

"Could you guys wait a sec?" Luigi asked. "The GBH is having some trouble getting a lock on him."

"Light!" shouted Gadd over the GBH. "You need to shine sunlight on him!"

"Great," Wario said. "Simple enough, we just wait outside the temple for a few hours, then come back in, and then we beat them up!"

"It's not that simple, I'm afraid," Green explained. "If you fail the test once, you can never attempt it again, and if you leave a temple before you complete the test, you fail it."

"Then what do we do?" Mario asked.

"Let's try everything," Luigi said, pulling out his Poltergust 3002. They looked a lot like the 3000, but the backpack part was a lot smaller, and there was a small slot on that part as well.

The flames that the ghost spewed out were sucked into the machine, but the ghost itself was unaffected. Luigi kept at this, simply happy to know that they didn't have to worry about the flames for now. Wario and Waluigi, however, weren't satisfied with this. Wario picked up Waluigi, and Waluigi kept his body straight as a rod. Wario then used Waluigi like an Olympian pole vaulter would use their pole, and then ground pounded on top of the Shy Guy. Needless to say, the four of them yelled in pain as Wario's pants caught fire.

"Could you please stop doing that?!" Mario exclaimed. "We aren't going to get anywhere with a mindless Bros. Attack!"

"That's it!" Luigi shouted, "Mario, can you still do the Firebrand?"

"Yeah, but what will fire do to a Fryguy?" Mario asked.

"Then let's do something a bit more advanced than that," Luigi hinted.

"I get what you're saying!" Mario agreed. "Wario, Waluigi, can you two give us some cover for a second?"

"No problem!" Waluigi said, sucking up the flames as Luigi had done earlier.

Mario shot fireballs to Luigi who, in turn, hit them with his Quadramasher into the air. Mario hit each of them with his hand to freeze them in midair. Then, the fireballs kept powering up the first one, until finally, when it was large enough, Mario hit it into the Shy Guy. Then, the four of them used the Poltergust 3002s to finish up the job. The Poltergusts all beeped, and out of the slot came an instantly developing picture.

"So that's what those slots do," Waluigi said.

The four torches lit up green, and a hole appeared in the floor.

"Ready, everyone?" Mario asked.

"Wait!" said Green. "Only Luigi may enter there."

"Okay, as long as the ghosts are gone," Luigi said.

With that, Luigi jumped down the hole and into a large round room. In the center, which he was standing on, there was a small hole, surrounded by a picture of a large mountain. Luigi started to place the Quadramasher's handle into the hole when all of a sudden, King Boo appeared out of nowhere and laughed sinisterly.

"Fool! You're not supposed to place the Quadramasher in there!" King Boo started. "You're supposed to take this from the hole!"

**watch?v=kWK09UtYq7w**

King Boo held up the statue of the green Quadramasher, although it could have been mistaken for any of the Quadramasher's statues, as it was made of gold.

"I've been doing nothing but planning your demise ever since I was trapped in that infernal Poltergust of yours until the very moment that I was released from the wretched painting that you locked me in!" King Boo monologued. "But now, you're all alone, and you will regret the day you ever rescued your older brother and angered my wrath!"

"'Angered your wrath?'" Luigi quoted. "You didn't come with anything prepared this time, did you?"

"Actually no, but this turn of events works quite nicely!" King Boo laughed. "Not only will I be one step closer to being able to reimprison my brother, but I'll be able to exact my revenge on you as well! I'll be making myself two servants with one stone! But, unfortunately, I don't have time to make you suffer as much as I'd like, so I'll just have to turn you into one of my servants a bit more quickly. Prepare to face my wrath!"

"Wait, Yoshevil is your brother?" Luigi asked.

"Well, he may not have my stunning good looks, but we are brothers, yes," King Boo stated.

"If you want to reimprison him, why not just help us?" Luigi asked.

"Because I need to catch him off guard!" King Boo explained. "When I hand him the four Quadramashers, he'll think he's safe. Then, during the day while all the guards are asleep, I'll activate the shrine myself and take what should be mine! I will become the ruler of the Boos once again! And besides, even stealing my annoying older brother's power isn't as important to me as getting my revenge! Also- wait a minute! Why in the afterworld am I telling you my plans? Now you've really angered my wrath!"

All the while, unbeknownst to King Boo, Luigi was scanning him with the GBH, and he found that King Boo was considerably weaker this time.

King Boo inhaled, and then let out a burst of flames. Luigi simply jumped over them, and towards his target. Luigi started up the Poltergust and aimed at King Boo. King Boo, however, didn't get sucked up that easily. Instead, he created several illusions of himself, and lost himself in the crowd. Luigi kept trying to suck him up, but had no luck. Luigi then got a bright idea. He used the thunder hand to light up the room and blind King Boo. King Boo was dazed, and the illusions disappeared. Luigi then proceeded to finish the job with the Poltergust. Although weakened, King Boo managed to break free. He had, however, dropped the statue. Luigi quickly picked it up and got to the opposite side of the room **(not that the room has sides, but you get the picture). **

"My brother is not going to be happy with this…" King Boo said as a beam of light shone on Luigi and carried him up to the first room. King Boo, however, wasn't as lucky… as Vincent Van Gore had been told to spy on King Boo, and, since King Boo had been weakened by the battle, Van Gore was able to drag King Boo back to Yoshevil's hideout with ease.

"Good job," said Red. "Let's go ahead and activate it before we go to my village. Besides, there's no way we'll make it there by nightfall."

"True, and the Boos won't be able to attack us as long as we stay in the Temple of Unity," Yellow added.

"The what?" the four plumbers asked in unison.

"Where we had sealed Yoshevil away," explained Purple.

Once they had got back to the Temple of Unity, Luigi placed the statue's missing hammer into the hands of the statue that Green said was of himself. Then, Luigi's hammer started to glow brighter then before.

"You can now summon the powers of the Hammer Quake at will, Luigi," explained Green. "But be careful where you use it, as you may end up hurting your friends as well as yourself."

"Not that there's much of a difference between the two," Mario joked. "So what took you so long down there?"

"Well, you're not going to believe this, but I'll tell you anyway," Luigi started, and then explained the battle.

Soon thereafter, back at Peach's castle, Boolossus was terrorizing everybody. Before he got the princess, he tied up E. Gadd. Then, he kidnapped the princess, and took Prof. Gadd with him.

**Next time: Yoshevil's wife is revealed and returns!**


	5. Chapter 5

**HOLY COW! This is my longest chapter yet! Enjoy!**

Chapter 5: Wild Goose

**watch?v=AUQ1ROj-0rU**

That night, in Yoshevil's hideout, ten of the Boos that were part of Boolossus had arrived with the princess and Gadd, both of them tied and gagged.

"Very good," Yoshevil said. "And did anybody see you?"

"No, they probably think it's that idiot Bowser that we captured for you that took her," explained Boolossus. "He's notorious for taking this one."

The rest of Boolossus came in and held up Bowser, who was still stuck in the Klown Kopter.

"And tell me, why exactly did you kidnap me?" asked Bowser. "If you don't answer me, then I swear, you'll never live to see another day!"

"Quiet you fool!" Yoshevil shouted. "Or I'll torture you beyond your worst nightmares!"

Bowser then imagined playing as himself in Super Smash Bros. Melee, losing again and again at an event match, Super Mario 128 to be exact.

"I highly doubt you can do that," Bowser said. "And no one holds the King of the Koopas hostage!"

"Well then, I'll leave you and Peach alone to discuss that, then," Yoshevil said.

"Is that supposed to be your idea of torture?" Bowser asked. "Why not just leave me alone with a fly? That would at least be annoying!"

"You simple-minded fool!" Yoshevil laughed. "You have no idea what I meant, but I plan to demonstrate, not explain."

Yoshevil then walked over to Peach and then the jewel on his ring started to glow. Then, a rainbow-colored bolt of lightning struck Peach and blinded everyone in the room except Yoshevil. When everyone could see again, there were two Peaches, each looking exactly the same."

_Time to have some fun before I give her to my wife_, thought Yoshevil. _I'll let her dark half torture Bowser, then I'll reform them and give her to my wife! _

Titaniboo untied one of the Peaches, and ungagged her. "From what Boolossus says, you seem to have a grudge against this Bowser," Yoshevil explained to the one he untied. "You have one hour to do whatever you want to him, perhaps even turn him into a Boo. In the meantime, let's make things more fun!"

Yoshevil laughed as Bowser's Klown Kopter disappeared and Bowser was suddenly hanging from the roof with chains around his ankles. Furthermore, Dark Peach had a strange stick in her hand.

Dark Peach turned to Yoshevil and shouted, "Am I supposed to be grateful or something? I know exactly where this place is, and I know only one reason why anyone would bring me here!"

"You!" shouted Yoshevil. "I'm doing you a favor, something I rarely do for anyone! If you really think that you can fight me, then go ahead, you'll be dead before you can even blink!"

"You want to resurrect the Shadow Queen, probably thinking that she'll be your slave when you do, don't you?"

"What kind of idiot would think that?' Yoshevil asked. "My wife barely listens to me!"

"Oh, so that's it," Dark Peach laughed. "In that case, I think we can come to an agreement."

"You are in no position to barter, and you're really making me think about reversing Bowser's predicament!"

"Just let me talk. You see, the Shadow Queen only needs one body, and if she wants me, then she can have that pathetic fool that keeps getting me captured by that idiotic Koopa over there!"

"And what do I do with you then?" Yoshevil said, intentionally making sure he showed that he was suspicious of her.

"Simple, you let me get rid of that idiot, Mario, for you. It would be simple, I just pretend to be captured at Bowser's castle, and then when he 'rescues' me, I kill him. All I ask in return for this is that you give me enough power to control an army."

"I have no fear of Mario, or the Quadramashers!" Yoshevil said. "And besides, why would I waste an army on helping one of my prisoners?"

"I like the idea," said the Shadow Queen from inside her tomb. "Besides, I've been wanting to get revenge on this Mario as well!"

"Why didn't you tell me before I told my troops to leave him alone?! You should know that there are four ways I treat people: I turn them into my slaves, let them live with a curse, torture them potentially, or destroy them completely!"

"Hey! That's why everyone is ignoring me!" Bowser shouted. "You put a curse on me so that everyone would forget I exist!"

"No, actually, I didn't need a curse to get some laughs from you," Yoshevil explained. "It's more fun watching your puny little mind try to figure out what my plan is!"

"Well, are you going to let me out of here or what?" asked the Shadow Queen. "And make it quick, Boolossus!"

"Yes, Mistress!" Boolossus said as he took Gadd and Light Peach and flew towards the Shadow Queen's prison.

"Have fun, kids!" Yoshevil said as he flew towards his wife, laughing hysterically all the while.

When they got down there, the Shadow Queen took Light Peach's body and then explained what had happened in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.

"You were defeated by a plumber?" Yoshevil laughed. "Ha! That is too rich! Seriously, you've got to find someone more loyal then those Shadow Sirens, I told you that Vivian never really seemed evil."

"Well then, let's see if you fare any better," the Shadow Queen mocked.

"There will be no need for that," said Dark Peach as she entered the room. "I'll do the job quickly and swiftly."

"Fine then," said the Shadow Queen. "This could be interesting, as well as fun. If he dies, I win, and if you die, that's one less person I have to worry about. Take this." The Shadow Queen took a strange black and purple necklace off of one of the walls and threw it to Dark Peach.

"You're just going to give her the necklace of your second in command?" Yoshevil said. "You are the most fickle sorceress I've ever known."

"We're playing with Mario's head, torturing his mind," explained the Shadow Queen. "I would expect you of all monsters to understand that concept."

"Fine! But what do I do with Bowser now?" Yoshevil said. "He's no fun if he's not being tortured!"

"Why not put him in your brother's prison?" the Shadow Queen asked. "That should create some havoc."

Dark Peach put on the necklace and left quietly, leaving the two love birds to bicker. Boolossus did the same, being careful not to be seen running away.

The following morning, the four plumbers were sleeping in sleeping bags on the floor of the dusty temple. Suddenly, Luigi was awoken by his GBH.

"Five more minute, Mommy," said Luigi, who wasn't even half awake. "I don't want to go to school."

"*Krzzz* -ter Mario! Mast- *krzzz* -uigi!" said Toadsworth through the static. "Master Mario? Master Luigi? Can anyone hear me? How does one work this contraption?"

Luigi woke up screaming, which woke everyone up except Waluigi. He heard the GBH and then answered it to see Toadsworth banging on the camera lens. "What is it, Toadsworth?" Luigi asked, still groggy.

"Master Mario! Master Luigi! Can you hear me? Anyone? Please answer, somebody!" shouted Toadsworth. Luigi saw a Toad walk up to Toadsworth and tap him on the back. "Yes? What is it, my good man?" Toadsworth asked.

"You know, things might go a lot smoother if you turned on the speakers," said the Toad.

"You have to turn the speakers on separately?" Toadsworth asked in a perplexed manner.

"Here, stand back and watch the master at work," said the mysterious Toad. He pulled up to the computer, and stormed away at the keyboard. In a few seconds, the static had disappeared, the picture was clearer on both ends, and, of course, he turned on the speakers.

"That should do it!" said the Toad. "Just don't yell into the microphone anymore, okay?"

"Thank you, fine sir," said Toadsworth. "I don't believe I got your name."

"Gil Bates," answered the Toad as he left**.( Gee, I wonder what happens if you switch the "G" and "B" around) **"E. Gadd recently hired me as a lab assistant."

"Well, thank you very much, Master Gil," Toadsworth repied. "I've never really been much good with these machines and whatnot."

"Really? Never would have guessed that," Gil said sarcastically. "Don't forget to tell them about Professor Gadd."

"What happened to the professor?" Luigi asked, concerned.

"It's horrible, terrible!" Toadsworth screamed.

"Is he being paranoid again?" asked Mario, who had been listening in on the conversation since Luigi woke him up.

"I'm not sure," said Luigi. "I hope that's all it is, though."

"It must be Bowser!" shouted Toadsworth. "Who else would do it?"

"Is the princess missing again?" asked Mario.

"Yes!" yelled Toadsworth. "And so is Professor Elvin Gadd!"

"Egads! Professor E. Gadd is missing?" shouted Luigi. "Looks like Bowser's gotten a little bit smarter."

"What's all the fuss about?" Wario asked. "I'm trying to sleep, sewage head!"

Waluigi, suprisingly, had slept through all the noise. When Wario saw this, he said, "If I can't sleep, no one can!"

He tried to kick Waluigi, but just tripped over Waluigi's Quadramasher instead. Wario got back up and then ground pounded over Waluigi. Waluigi, however, was tossing and turning a lot, and rolled out of the way. Wario then took his Quadramasher and swung for Waluigi's head. Waluigi grabbed Wario leg and cuddled it like a teddy bear, tripping Wario and making him drop his Quadramasher.

"Maybe we should let him sleep," whispered Luigi. "After all, what harm can it do? It's not like we'll need him to help us rescue the princess. we can do that by ourselves!"

Waluigi then woke up and shouted, "Hey! Greenbean, keep it down! I'm a light sleeper!"

Waluigi then saw Wario's leg and shoved it aside.

"Let's get going, Luigi!" Mario said. "Bowser's castle should be just a little ways away from here."

"I'm afraid that going to Bowser's castle is out of the question," said Red.

"Yes, we have too little time as it is!" Green agreed.

"This will only take a day," Mario argued. "Besides, you can take Wario and Waluigi to one of their temples."

"We told you before," Yellow started, "all four of you must be present for the trials to commence!"

"We only have four days left, and if you go now, we won't have enough time to do this!" Purple added. "We don't even have enough time as it is!"

"Bowser's castle is to the north, the same direction as one of the temples, correct?" Mario asked.

"Yes, the Fire Temple, right under an active volcano," Red explained. "Or, at least it was active last I checked; a lot can happen in a thousand years!"

"Then at least let us stop by the castle on the way there, please," Mario asked. "I can't just leave the princess in Bowser's hands, and besides, we can combat the ghosts much more efficiently if we have the professor to help us."

"But we can't waste any-" started Green.

"There's no way to talk him out of it," explained Luigi. "If the princess gets kidnapped, he always rescues her, and there is no way to talk him out of it, no matter how dangerous it is. Believe me, I've tried it before."

"Fine, but we're leaving now," Yellow sighed.

"Let's get going," Purple said. "I have a feeling this is going to be a long day."

**Since this story is a race against time, from now on I will give the time of day before each section. **

11:00 AM; Bowser's Castle

**watch?v=nOQzImeBlbU**

The group of heroes saw the castle, built right on top of the ruins that Yoshevil had made the day before.

"Is it just me, or does he rebuild his castle faster each time it's destroyed?" Luigi asked.

"No, I seem to have noticed that too, but he's really outdone himself this time," Mario agreed. "He must have teamed up with Yoshevil or something, there's no way that Bowser could have rebuilt it that fast after losing so many troops."

The main door simply opened. "A trap," the eight of them sighed.

"Let's get this over with," Luigi said. "I really wish that Bowser would come up with something more original. It gets kind of boring having to fight him again and again for the same reason every time."

The four Podoboos lit up the castle, which was otherwise devoid of light. The castle was very simple, a large room with a spiral staircase in the center of the room leading upwards.

They went up a long ways, about ten stories up, until there were two doors. One led up further, and the other let them out on that floor. The one that led up was locked, but they could hear someone banging on it from the other side, as if someone was trying to escape.

"We'll go ahead and scout the floors above," said Red.

"Will you four be all right?" Green asked.

"You don't usually get along so well," added Yellow.

"We'll be fine," said Mario. "It's one of Bowser's traps, how hard can it be to thwart?"

"Just don't start trying to thwart each other, okay?" asked Purple.

Inside, they found Bowser Jr. with his paintbrush, and an army of Boos behind him.

**watch?v=W-UIS5ASSS0**

"Mario! Papa and me don't like you! Why did you come here?" Junior asked. "You not going to win this time!"

With that, the Boos attacked everyone, while Junior went straight for Mario.

"You three hold them off, I'll get Junior," Mario said.

"Easy for you to say!" shouted Waluigi.

Everyone got out their Poltergusts and started to combat the flying menaces. Mario, despite his efforts, could not escape from the onslaught of Boos. He pulled out his Poltergust and joined the others in fighting them. The Boos fell like rain drops, yet there seemed to be no end to the onslaught in sight.

"How many of them can there be?" Waluigi asked.

"I don't know, and I don't care, as long as they don't harm my beautiful face!" shouted Wario.

"Take this, sewer cleaner man!" shouted Junior as he shot globs of paint at Mario. Mario, unable to see where they were coming from, wasn't able to dodge. The globs didn't hurt him; instead, they made it so Mario couldn't move his feet at all. Junior saw that the others couldn't move either, although he didn't understand why. He then signaled the Boos to leave so he could finish the job.

Junior walked up to Mario and tried to breath fire at his hat, but all that came out was smoke. He then resorted to using the paintbrush in an attempt to knock Mario unconscious. Luigi then got an idea.

"I sure hope this works," said the green clad hero as he got out his Quadramasher and held it up high. Luigi found that this was hard to do since he could feel the brush hitting Mario just as well as Mario could. Luigi ignored the pain, and slammed the hammer down as hard as he could. The whole castle shook with a loud roar, releasing the four of them and making Junior lose his balance.

Mario then picked up Junior by the tail, and then held his hand out. "Where's the key?" Mario asked in his normal voice. "Come on, we know you have it."

Junior handed the key to Mario, and then ran away crying.

Mario unlocked the door and the pounding stopped. Then, when he opened the door, they saw Bowser at the other end. Bowser simply turned around and ran the other way. Mario shrugged and went up the stairs. As it turned out, the stairs led to the roof. When they reached the top, they saw Bowser turn around again and run back towards them. When he saw them, he just stopped and then looked over his shoulder, and then back to Mario. Although they couldn't see around him, they could all tell that something was bothering Bowser.

"I cannot believe it's come down to this!" Bowser said. "I never thought I'd be saying this, but Mario, you've got to save me from the princess!"

The four of them didn't bother to laugh. They thought it was some sort of trap. Mario took out the Quadramasher and ran towards Bowser. Bowser, realizing that he had no way out, ran over to the edge of the roof and jumped off. **(Don't worry, anyone, he's survived falls from much higher than that.) **

They came out of the protrusion and onto the roof. When they got there, they saw Peach tied up and the Podoboos in a glass cage.

Mario rushed over to untie Peach. "Peach, are you okay?" Mario asked. "Did Bowser hurt you?"

When Mario was finished, Peach laughed evilly and said, "Him, hurt me? That's the most ridiculous idea I've ever heard! He wouldn't stand a chance against me!"

"Why did the princess just laugh in an evil manner?" Luigi asked.

"Because, you fool! I am her dark half!" she shouted as she grabbed Mario's Quadramasher and threw it off the roof, "I let Yoshevil have that pathetic wimp that never lets me have any fun and give her to his wife!"

"And here I thought that only a mother could love a face like that," Wario said.

"If you really must know, it's the Shadow Queen." Dark Peach laughed. "Not that you'll live to see her in my other half."

"Go!" shouted Mario. "This one's personal!"

"But Mario, we can take her; it's four against one!" Waluigi argued. "This will be easy!"

"I said it's personal!" Mario re-emphasised.

"And that's all the more reason to watch!" said Wario, who Mario would have thrown his Quadramasher at if he had it with him.

"As much as I hate to admit it, Waluigi is right," said Luigi. "There's safety in numbers. We're not leaving and that's final!"

"As hilarious as it is to watch you four bicker, I've only one intention," said Dark Peach, "and that's to make sure that you don't interfere with anything!"

**watch?v=LlVC3AGHiGk**

Dark Peach then jumped up and kicked off Mario's hat. Mario, not one to go without his trademark, rolled over to his hat and picked it up. Dark Peach then put on the necklace that the Shadow Queen gave her. The sky turned dark, despite the fact that it was daytime. Although it looked normal, everyone could feel the evil coming from the necklace. Dark Peach then shot out a bolt of black lightning at Mario, knocking him to the ground. Luigi then tried the Hammer Quake again, but with no luck, Dark Peach was floating above the ground. Wario, being a bit more direct, threw his Quadramasher at Dark Peach and knocked her to the ground. However, she recovered immediately and then threw the Quadramasher back at Wario. She then picked up Mario by the throat and held him over the edge of the castle.

"With you gone, the joy in my other half will be gone, and I can take control whenever I like," she taunted. "Not that I understand why she's always liked you, but this will be the end of it!"

Just as she was about to let go, Wario dragged her back and then shouted, "If anyone's gonna kill Mario, it's gonna be ME! You got that, Princess?"

Dark Peach slapped Wario, but thanks to the necklace, it felt like she had a bowling ball for a hand. Wario was knocked back, but at least Mario was free.

"I never thought I'd be saying this, but we have no choice!" Mario said.

"Are you serious? You're going to do what you know I've wanted to do the whole time?" Luigi asked.

"What's that?" asked Wario and Waluigi in unison.

"Retreat," Mario said sorrowfully.

"Don't we need the Podoboos, though?" asked Waluigi.

"It's taken care of," said Wario, holding up the glass cage.

The four of them ran out of the castle as fast as they could. Mario, knowing that they wouldn't have another chance, grabbed his Quadramasher once they got outside.

3:13 PM; Ten miles due north of Bowser's castle

**watch?v=Y_10tQF3IP8**

The area was an open field. Wario was still carrying the cage over his head, and the Podoboos hadn't said anything.

"I can't believe we lost!" shouted Mario, "I shouldn't have been so careless!"

"It isn't your fault, Bro," Luigi said. "If they had done the same thing to Daisy, I know I would have fallen for it!"

"What ever happened to Princess Eclair?" Mario asked. "When I was getting the Crystal Stars, she was all you would talk about!"

"That's before I saw her," said Luigi. "She's six years old!"

"Hey, why don't we stop and let the Podoboos out?" Waluigi suggested. "We can't get very far without their help."

Wario, without saying anything to show he agreed, slammed the cage down as hard as he could. The cage just bounced once, and then went still on the ground. Wario pulled out his Quadramasher and slammed it into the cage, releasing the Podoboos.

"Wow, you finnally used it without hurting yourself," Red said to Wario.

"It's getting late. Even if we do make it to the Fire Temple by sundown, there's no way we'll make it back to the Temple of Unity in time!" complained Green.

"The Boos will swarm all over us during the night," Yellow added.

"We have no choice though," Purple said. "As much as I agree with you three, we have no choice."

"Right," said Red. "Follow me, everyone, and beware, the path to the temple is some what unstable, and I don't recommend that you go there without knowing how to treat a third degree burn."

"I'm a doctor, I'll be fine," Mario said sternly. "Let's go, there's no way I'm going to let Titaniboo get away with this!"

2:55 PM; Palace of Shadows, Throne Room

**watch?v=2YXdVNI-dxU**

"I'm back," Dark Peach said as she teleported into the room.

"Did you finish them off?" asked Yoshevil. "Or do I need to do this myself?"

"The answer to both of your questions are no," Dark Peach said. "However, I did force them into a retreat. I think that I should mention that no one has ever been able to do that to Mario before."

"Lying is not advised if you wish to stay favorable to us," the Shadow Queen said. "You know as well as we do that you're not the first he's run away from, nor are you the strongest that he has faced."

"Besides, you failed in your task," said Yoshevil. "For that we should destroy you on the spot!"

"What do you mean? I won the battle!" Dark Peach yelled, and then calmed down and continued. "Besides, I'm the best weapon you have against him; I can mess with his head much moire than any of your other servants could ever do harm to him, physically or mentally. Besides, if you destroy me, you destroy your wife's new body."

"I never cursed you!" Yoshevil shouted. "What are you talking about?"

"You forget that her body is that of my other half," said Dark Peach. "Without chaos, order cannot exist, and I am the chaos in her mind, she is the order. Destroy one of us, you destroy the other."

"She could always get a new one," Yoshevil said. "There are plenty of other bodies out there that she could use."

"I just so happen to like this body," said the Shadow Queen to Yoshevil, and then turned to Dark Peach. "However, if you fail again, my husband will put you back with your other half and then you'll be as helpless as she is!"

"Don't worry, I know where the statue for the purple Quadramasher is. And besides, I've been wanting to see someone there anyway."

"They aren't after the Water Temple right now!" shouted Yoshevil. "This is your last chance! Fail me again, and you'll regret it, more so than your other half."

"Fail you?" the Shadow Queen said. "I'm the one who wants Mario in his grave, you just wanted to play a prank on him!"

"I'll go now," said Dark Peach. "But don't think that your threats frighten me."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Trial by Fire

4:17 PM; Outside the Hotfoot Volcano

**watch?v=XomcpHU4ZqU**

"Never been here before," said Mario. "How about you two?"

"Never even heard of this dump," said Wario. "Some city, I don't even see a bank!"

"He said that was 10,000 years ago," said Waluigi. "I doubt that the city survived that long. Chances are, in 10,000 years, the Mushroom Kingdom will be gone."

"If we keep wasting time, the Mushroom Kingdom will barely last 10,000 seconds," said Luigi. "What's the test this time?"

"Let's worry about finding the temple first," said Mario, "and let's do it quick. I don't want you two mischief makers slowing us down!"

"Hey! Being a jerk about our past is my job!" complained Wario. "You're supposed to be the goodie-two-shoes!"

"How's this, then? You'd better not call me a jerk, or else I'll show you what I'm going to do to Yoshevil!" Mario shouted. "Got that, thief?"

"Oh! That's it! You do not want to call me a thief!" said Wario. "Come on! What's the matter, plumber? Having trouble with your girlfriend?"

Luigi and Waluigi stepped back, then Luigi said, "I'll bet you fifty coins Mario wins!"

"Sixty!" said Waluigi.

"Seventy-five!" said Luigi.

"100!" Waluigi raised the bet.

"Deal!" Luigi said, and the two rivals shook hands. The Podoboos sighed, knowing that this delay was only going to make things worse.

Mario punched Wario, hurting all four of them.

"I forgot about that," said Luigi. "Maybe we should try and break up the fight."

"And get between those two? Yeah right!" Waluigi laughed. "I'd rather fight a million Boos by myself unarmed than try to get between them!" Wario hit Mario with his Quadramasher, sending Mario into a tree. "Yeouch!" shouted Waluigi. "Then again, those thorns do hurt... On the other hand, maybe we should try to stop them before we find out if the curse makes us die at the same time as each other."

"Agreed," said Luigi. "I'll take Mario, you take Wario!"

The two of them got in between Mario's firebrand and Wario's charge smash, sending the two of them into each other.

"Then again, maybe we should just stick to the bet," said Luigi. "Not like it would be any less painful being involved!"

"Not like staying out of it would be any less painful either," Waluigi argued.

"Never thought I'd be saying this to you, but good point!" Luigi agreed.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Waluigi asked. "Are you saying I'm an idiot?"

"Of course not," Luigi said. "I'm not saying it. It would be redundent to do so, because in goes without saying!"

"That's it! I'm dropping the hammer, litterally!" Waluigi shouted as he pulled out his Quadramasher.

"Come on, stick figure!" Luigi mocked.

"EVERYONE, STOP THIS NOW!" shouted Red. "You four are supposed to be working together, in case you forgot!"

Mario dropped his hammer and took a moment to cool off before he replied, then he spoke in an angry tone. "You're right, I let my aggression get the better of me. Come on, let's get this over with!"

"You could be a bit nicer about it," said Green. "You are supposed to be heroes, after all."

"I'm sorry, you're right. I'm just a bit..." Mario paused to think of a good word for what he was trying to say, "...confused by this. I'm not used to having to fight Peach."

"Yet you didn't seem to have any trouble fighting our dark halves. Why should her dark half be any different?" asked Yellow.

"How did you know about that?" asked Wario. "You weren't there."

"We took the trials before, and we know what you went through," said Purple.

"We're doomed. There is no way that they are going to pass the trial of-" Red started as he was interrupted.

"We are not to speak of that one!" Green said. "They will have to pass it on their own, and we will go there last. By then, hopefully they'll be able to do it."

"Do what?" asked Luigi.

"Let's focus on the Trial of Fear for now," said Yellow, trying to change the subject, "for they must pass that one right now."

"Yes, let's focus on that. It's only two hours to sunset, and we need to get to the Temple of Unity alive!" said Purple. "Or at least these four need to be alive."

"Agreed. Mario, are you ready to open the path?" Red asked.

"I don't see the door, where is it?" Mario asked.

"Just pound your Quadramasher on the ground, we're not at the door quite yet," Red explained. "My friends can follow us a bit further still."

Mario did as Red told him, and a brief earthquake started.

"Are you sure you didn't grab my Quadramasher by mistake?" asked Luigi.

The quake stopped, and a path into the volcano opened in the ground a few feet in front of the volcano.

"Shall we continue?" asked Red. "We've only got a little bit more sunlight."

The path started out as a long spiralling stair case (I've used those a lot in this story, haven't I?) When it stopped, there was a long, zigzagging path suspended by stalagmites and stalactites leading to the door, which could be seen only faintly through the heavy smoke and steam. Hundreds of feet below, an ocean of lava was visible, as well as some hopeful Blarggs that waited for someone to use the natural bridge and fall prey to it's trecherous path.

"How are we supposed to do this?" Wario asked. "I'd rather just skip right to fighting Titaniboo."

"Trust me, no you don't," said Yellow. "You haven't faced his power to the extent that we have, and I wish that none will ever have to after you reimprison him."

"Don't you mean if?" asked Waluigi. "I'm not trying to be a pestimist, but..."

"You're doing an excellent job of it nonetheless!" joked Luigi. "I say we should go one at a time, not letting another go until the first has crossed."

"Fine. Since I have to open this door, I'll go first," agreed Mario.

Mario carefully crossed, watching his every step, and hoping no one would sneeze. After a few minutes, he was at the door. "I do not want to do that again!" Mario sighed, then realized something. "Oh great! That's the only way back!" Mario opened the door, which looked the same as the door to the first temple, except instead of a mountain being engraved on it, it had a fireball.

The others passed one at a time, Waluigi following after Mario, then Luigi, and finally Wario. The four Podoboos flew in front of the door, and Red continued into it.

"Good luck!" said Purple. "And please, don't get yourself killed."

"It's a bit too late for that," said Red.

"I was talking to those four!" said Purple. "And what do you mean a bit too late? We died almost ten-thousand years ago!"

The doors then shut, cutting their conversation short.

5:27 PM; Inside the Fire Temple

**watch?v=nfRU75akOqc**

The Fire Temple had six doors, if one counted the entrance. The room they were in had four walls, and four of the doors were in the corners. The door they had entered through had been built into a wall, and the last door was opposite the one they had come in through. To either side of each door was a torch, and in the center of the room was a large net, through which one could see the ocean of lava below.

"Each of you go into one of the corners," said Red. "There will be a small hole in the floor in front of each of the doors. As long as all four Quadramshers remain inside of those holes, the four doors can be opened. Inside, what you will see depends on you. You must go in unarmed, but never unprepared. Understood?"

"Whatever you say, hothead!" Wario mocked.

"I happen to be quite level-headed, thank you," said Red. "Each of you must enter one of the doors, it doesn't matter who goes in which one. Just don't test the net, I'm sure it will collapse at the slightest touch after being exposed to decay for so long."

The four of them did as they were told, and each of the four doors opened.

"Before you go, let me warn you that you will have started the test as soon as you close the door," Red said. "I will wait here for you to return."

"Nothing can scare me!" Wario shouted as he entered his room. "See you after I've made this test look like child's play!"

Not afraid? Funny, thought Red. Seems that all who take this test don't realize how untrue that is until they've stared fear in the face... Oh well, they'll do that soon enough.

Inside, Mario found that his room was empty, a square chamber with nothing inside but a torch in each corner. He stepped into the middle to look around, but when he reached the center, before he could look around, the torches went out.

Then, the next thing he knew, he was in Bowser's castle. Mario, confused, decided to look around. He then found that Bowser was inside a throne room, decorated with huge statues of the egomaniac Koopa. In the corner of the room, Peach was tied up.

"This is the trial?" Mario asked. "This will be over with in no time!"

Wario, however, found himself in front of Diamond City Bank. He smiled, and rushed inside to smell the dough. "I don't know how I got here, and I don't care! This test rules!" Wario shouted.

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Wario, the CEO, founder, and sole stockholder of WarioWare Inc?" asked a seemingly random man in a business suit.

"Who wants to know?" asked Wario.

"I'll take that as a yes!" said the man. "And we at the IRS have been searching for you for quite some time now! You have a lot to answer for, and we'll start with those unpaid taxes!"

"IRS? The Mushroom Kingdom doesn't have an IRS!" Wario said in a worried manner. "Besides... I've kept all my money matters legal and up to date!"

"We'll decide that!" said the IRS agent. "And by the way, Diamond City isn't part of the Mushroom Kingdom, it's part of Sarasaland."

"I knew I should have just invested in GtGC, SBCR, and PnPr," said Wario.

"Out of curiosity, what are those?" the IRS agent asked.

"Grate Guy Casino, Sirena Beach Casino Resort, and Pianta Parlor," said Wario. "I like to gamble."

"Well, you shouldn't have tried to gamble with the law, 'cause we always get our man," said the IRS agent. "Follow me, and no funny business, got it, buster?"

"Where are you taking me?"

"You're coming downtown."

"I'm not going to jail! You can't, I've got to save the entire planet from an ancient evil Boo!"

"Like I haven't heard that one before! We'll let the judge decide what to do with you!"

Luigi was in Bowser's castle as well, and it looked the same way for him as it did for Mario, except Peach wasn't there at all. Luigi cautiously approached the throne room, only to be greeted by Bowser. (What? Who were you expecting, the Easter Bunny?)

"Hello, meat!" Bowser snarled. "You ever feel sorry for a Thanksgiving turkey?"

"Not really. I mean, it is just a bird," Luigi answered nervously.

"Well last time I checked, chicken is poultry too!" Bowser said as he charged towards Luigi.

"I'm not afraid of you. Your IQ is superior only to Morton's!"

"You're going to pay for that!" shouted Bowser.

Speaking of Morton, Waluigi saw Morton in a jail cell. After looking around, Waluigi realized he too was in a cell, one directly across from Morton. Other than the two of them, Waluigi couldn't see or hear anybody. "Is the test supposed to be about breaking out of jail?" Waluigi asked. "That's a strange thing to test heroes on."

"Hey! Hi! Hello! Howdy! Greetings! Salutations! Welcome! Salve!" Morton said. "My name is Morton Koopa Junior, but you can just call me Morton, or Mr. Koopa, or Junior, or Morton Junior, or Mr. Koopa Junior, or Mr. Junior, or Mr. Morton Koopa Junior, or...

**Two hours later... **

"...or you could always call me Loud Mouth Koopa, which is my nickname. I don't know how I got that nickname, it's kind of a strange name if you ask me. Do you know why I got that name?" Morton paused for a second, and then, before Waluigi could think of an insulting comeback, which, for Waluigi, takes almost no time at all, Morton continued, "I like to talk, bet you didn't know that. Talking is fun, enjoyable, likable, entertaining, and makes for an excellent hobby. I bet no one can find a better way to make me happy than letting me talk. Chatting on the Internet or writing a letter is okay, but my lungs get kind of bored, and I like to exercise my jaw. Did you know that the jaw is the most commonly moved bone in the body? I'll bet I know all kinds of things that you don't. I'll bet you can't name one thing that I don't know!"

Waluigi had both his fists shoved into his ears the whole time, but wasn't able to block out any of the noise. "When to shut up," Waluigi replied.

"Oh, that's an easy one! The best time to shut up is never, at the end of forever, during the thirty-second of December, at thirteen o'clock! Shutting up is for losers, wimps, airheads, weaklings, and idiots! Shutting up is like trying to light a candle with a nuclear bomb, like..."

Mario made quick work of the Koopa King, and then proceeded to untie the princess. After doing so, the castle disappeared, turning to ruins. Peach's eyes were glowing red, and she was wearing the necklace the Shadow Queen had given to her. The sky was dark, though sun was in the center of the sky. The moon was in plain sight, the edge of it seeming to touch the Sun.

"You think that your illusions scare me? I'm a hero! And nothing you can do will frighten me!" he shouted, and then smiled, expecting that to be the way to pass the test. "Why is nothing happening? I said I'm not afraid! Why am I still here?"

Dark Peach had no idea what he was talking about, and so she simply attacked him with her frying pan. Mario, not sure if it would affect him in reality or not, dodged, just to be on the safe side. He threw a fireball at Dark Peach, and he noticed that the sun had been completely blocked by the moon, with the exception of the coronasphere **(the outermost layer of the sun, which can only be seen by the naked eye during a solar eclipse)**.

"Not afraid?" Yoshevil laughed. "I'll change that! For I am the mightiest of all monsters, scarier than King Boo, more horrifying then Boolossus, I am the Titan of Terror: Yoshevil!"

"You don't frighten me in the least!" Mario said. "Bring it on, I'd be happy to put you back in your grave!"

The bank Wario was in suddenly started to dissapear as Wario found himself in a courtroom.

"We of the Sarasaland Supreme Court are gathered here today to try the innocence of one man in the case of Sarasaland Supreme Court vs. Wario," said Princess Daisy, who was the judge. "Wario, you are charged with robbery, grand theft auto, fradulant bank accounts, fleeing from SIRS agents-"

"SIRS? I thought it was IRS," said Wario.

"They're the Sarasa Internal Revenue Service, now let me continue!" Daisy shouted. "Fleeing from SIRS agents, speaking out of turn-"

"That's not a crime!" Wario shouted. "It may be rude, but it's no crime!"

"-on multiple attempts," Daisy continued. "A record breaking 78,392 unpaid parking tickets-"

"What?!" shouted Wario. "I was in a kart race!"

"They were for your motorcycle, you idiot!" said Daisy, "And lastly, cussing in an E-rated game! How do you plead?"

"Don't we need to do the oath first?" Wario asked. "I've always wanted to lie under oath."

Everyone in the court room gasped.

"Very well, the prosecutor shall go first," Daisy said as she pointed to the prosecution, which consisted of Mario, Luigi, and Peach. "Do you three swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God?"

"I do," said each of them in turn.

"And does the defense do the same?" Daisy asked.

"Where's my lawyer?" Wario asked. "I'll just buy the best lawyer in this pitiful place."

"You can't do that!" Daisy said. "Until this case is resolved, all your assets are frozen. However, that means the court must provide one for you... Mario, would you do the honors?"

"Okie-dokie!" he agreed.

"What?! He can't be my defense, he's the lead prosecutor!" Wario shouted.

"Stop speaking out of turn or I'll hold you in contempt!" shouted Daisy as she pounded the gavel. Wario grumbled, but did as she said anyway.

Bowser quickly let out a burst of flames at Luigi, narrowly missing the plumber. "Okay, now I'm scared," said Luigi.

The castle dissappeared, and Luigi was back in the square chamber. "It can't be," Luigi said. "I let everybody down... I've failed."

Luigi walked back into the central room, where he sat down to wait for everyone else. "How did things go?" asked Red. "Done already? That was record timing!"

"I'd rather not talk about it," Luigi said. "Not that we'll be able to talk for much longer."

"And so, you see, that's my life story! Now, enough about me, I'll bet you want to hear all about the rest of my family!" Morton said. "Unfortunately, they aren't here. I know! I'll just tell their life stories for them!"

Waluigi was banging on the bars, hoping to find a way out. He was losing his sanity, and still there seemed to be no stop to Morton's monologues. Waluigi was desparate for a way out. "Why did it have to be the one thing I'm afraid of?" Waluigi asked.

Just as had happened to Luigi, the jail cell disapeared, and he was back in the center of the square room. "Did I fail? But Waluigi number one!" Waluigi said sorrowfully.

Waluigi, unlike Luigi, wasn't ready to go outside to admit his defeat just yet.

"So, now that all of that time has been wasted, how do you plead, Wario?" asked Daisy with a long sigh.

"Depends, which charge?" he asked.

"Let's start with the biggest accusation on the list, namely, grand theft of a castle that Peach gave to Mario as a birthday present."

"Innocent, that island was mine!" Wario said. "She built that castle on my land! I had the rights to it!"

"We'll open with the defense," Daisy said.

"I call Wario to the stand," Mario said.

"What? I'm your client!" shouted Wario. "You can't question me!"

"The defense rests!" said Mario.

"Thank you. Now, the prosecution will now present their case!" said Daisy.

"For our first witness," Mario said, "I'd like to call Princess Peach Toadstool to the stand."

She got up there and smiled.

"Peach, is it not true that you have possessed the deed to the alleged land on which the said castle was built?"

"That is correct," she agreed.

"And therefore, anything built with your consent is yours to do with, correct?"

"Yes, continue," Peach agreed.

"Therefore, when Wario took the said castle, he did, indeed, steal it. Am I not mistaken?"

"No, that pretty much sums it up," Peach said.

"I've no further questions, your honor," Mario said.

"Would the defense like to cross-examine the witness?" Daisy asked.

"Yes I would!" shouted Wario.

"My client wishes to plead insanity," Mario said. "As you can see, he believes that he is the lawyer, and not the accused. He obviously is in need of serious help."

"Say what?" Wario screamed. "As if this wasn't frightening enough, and now I'm going to an asylum!"

"Actually, no," Daisy said. "We don't have any asylums in Sarasaland, so I sentence you to spend the remainder of your lifetime in the hands of a capable doctor."

"But there are no doctors in the Mushroom Kingdom or Sarasaland!" said Wario.

"Actually, there is one," Mario said while pointing to himself.

"No! Anything but that, Your Honor! I beg of you! Being one of Mario's patients is my worst fear!" Wario said. The court room started to fade.

"What happened?" Wario asked. "I can't lose!" Wario stomped around and shouted random insults at the room.

After a while, Wario finally walked out of the room to find Luigi sitting by the entry door. "What are you looking at you wimp?" he shouted at Luigi, who was ignoring him. At that time, Waluigi walked out into the room as well, meaning only Mario remained.

"You're as good as dead, Mario! Why don't you just admit it? You're shaking in your boots, and you've got to face every Boo in the universe, not to mention my wife, as well as your princess!" Yoshevil chuckled.

"You're right, and I've just figured this out," Mario said.

"Impossible, there's no way you could have figured out a way to defeat me! In case you didn't notice the solar eclipse, I'm now invincible!" Yoshevil said, laughing all the while.

"Not that, I've figured out this trial. It's not about facing your fears, it's about admiting them, because no hero, no matter how brave they think they are, can ever conquer their fears if they pretend that they don't exist. I admit, I'm afraid of you, and of Dark Peach, but that doesn't mean I'll let either of you win. I won't let my fears stop me, but I will admit, I do have them."

The room changed back to normal in the same manner as it did for the other three. He immediately went out the door and saw the other three frowning. "Did we do something wrong?" Mario asked. "I thought I had the puzzle figured out."

The final door opened up, revealing the statue. "It appears you all passed," said Red. "Congratulations."

"We all passed?" Luigi asked. "But I was afraid."

"You admitted you were afraid, which means you can now learn not to be," Red explained. "Before one can combat their fears, they must acknowledge they exist."

"I guess that kind of makes sense, in an obscure and confusing kind of way," said Luigi.

"We must hurry, only an hour remains before sunset," Red reminded them.

"Okie-dokie!" agreed Mario as he went into the final door.

"Hackackackack!" laughed an unfamiliar voice. "Not vad for a plumair!"

At that time, Vincent van Gore revealed himself, with a canvas in hand.

**watch?v=Rliq9zkZB3**

"Now you chall zee my magnificaint works een action!" van Gore said as he picked up his brush and painted a familiar face. "I have done eet again! Voila!"

Vincent van Gore left things at that and flew off, revealing on his canvas, the ghost of Cackletta.

**watch?v=l32hDt6pLWo**

"Eyahahaha!" she cackled, "Mario and- where's your brother?"

"Don't you think you should worry about me right now?" Mario asked.

"Where am I?" Cackletta asked herself while scratching her head. "I remember that I was about to kill you and your brother, then I saw lightning, then fire, and lastly, a hammer. After that, I can't remember anything. Where's Fawful? And why aren't my feet touching the ground?"

"Luigi and I killed you," Mario explained. "He used the Thunderhand to weaken your attacks, I used the Firebrand to lower your defense, and then we attacked you with a barrage of three consecutive Chopper Bros. attacks. And as for your feet, well, ghosts don't usually walk."

"Ghosts? What do my feet have to do with ghosts?" she asked. "And if you killed me then how in the world am I talking to you? I'm a witch, but I'm not immortal, you fool!"

"Fine, if you aren't a ghost, then this should have no effect on you!" said Mario as he pulled out his Poltergust 3002.

"What is tha- hey! What are you doing to me?" Cackletta asked as she was being pulled into the modified vacuum cleaner, "Enough of this! You will pay dearly for that!"

Suddenly, a spinning saw-like blade of electricity was shot from her fingers and raced on the ground towards Mario. Mario hit it back to her with his Quadramasher, and she blew it back towards him. On and on this continued for about five minutes, until, finally, Cackletta missed, and was stunned.

Mario sucked her up, did his trademark peace sign pose, and then took the statue. He exited the room and showed the statue to everyone.

"We must hurry, we don't have even an hour before sunset!" Red reminded them.

"Let's get going, then!" said Mario.

7:18 PM; 1 mile north of Bowser's Castle

**watch?v=MiAxiGZKpGQ**

The group was about twenty-six miles away from the Temple of Unity. The sun had set, and the Boos had begun their onslaught.

"Wait a mineet! Thees ees not how ve should do thees! Allow me, you untalented swines!" shouted van Gore as he revealed himself. "I vill force you to become one of uz, and zen show you gust how eet feels to be locked in zee paintings forevair!"

"But you weren't trapped in the painting forever," said Wario. "Otherwise you couldn't hace gotten out!"

"Quieet, you fooleesh eediot!" van Gore yelled. "And vatch a true mastair at vork! Thees will be zee most amazing, unique, and astonisheeng work of art any of you fools have evair zeen!"

"Don't let him finish his painting!" shouted Luigi. "If he makes a new ghost, there's no telling how powerful it will be!"

"What's with all the shouting?" Waluigi asked. "We're all right here."

"Protect me, you untalented swines!" yelled van Gore. "Zee art must not be deesturbed!"

"In case you forget, we are in charge of you!" said some of the Boos. "In case you forget, the only two higher than us are the Shadow Queen, and of course, Lord Yoshevil himself!"

"I shall change zat in a matter of mere momeents! Just allow me to create zees mastairpiece, and we shall have a new ally, far more powairful zen eithair of us!"

"Fine, we'll do it!" said Boolossus, who was separated at the time.

"I'll try to make that artificial sun again!" said Mario. "Maybe we can use it to protect us!"

"Not on our afterlife!" shouted Boolossus as he rushed towards Mario. In addition, a swarm of normal Boos was attacking the rest of the heroes.

"Isn't there anything we can do?" asked Red. "I hate to see them fight like this and not be able to do anything!"

"Maybe we can, I remember seeing something completely different when they took the Trial of Light," Green explained. "Perhaps we can combine ourselves somehow."

"And how do we do that?" asked Yellow. "It's not like we can just ask the Boos to tell us."

"Then we'll just try to figure it out on our own," decided Purple. "Not like any harm can come from trying, can it?"

"Eet eez complete! Zee greateest mastairpiece of all time eez finally a reality!" shouted Vincent van Gore. "Now we shall make our leave, Monsieur Bolosees!"

"Let us put it this way," Boolossus said as he recombined. "You are a small, pathetic, starving artist, and we are a strong, powerful, and higher-ranking group of Boos! Unless you want us to unleash our wrath on you as well as our enemies, we suggest that you learn your place! Do we make ourselves clear, or do we need to demonstrate for you?"

"I vor one, do not wish to be here ven my mastairpiece awakens, but if you inseest, zen by all means, stay and zee Gargantuan Boo-omb in all hees splendor!" said van Gore. "But ve warned, he eez not able to prevent his exploseen from hurting spectairs any more then he eez capable of stopping eet from hurting heemself!"

"Boo-omb? Wait a minute, are you saying you just created a Bob-omb?" laughed Boolosus. "That's your masterpiece? If that's all, then there's no way that it will- wait, what in the netherworld does 'gargantuan' mean?"

"It means huge, you eediot!" said van Gore. "And thees eez much more zen merely a huge Bob-omb! Eet eez a Boo-omb, which is mush more powairful, and should also take care of zose annoying Podoboos zat are protecteeng zee plumairs!"

"Well then we're outta here!" shouted Boolosus as he and van Gore fled.

"Who dares to anger the great Gargantuan Boo-omb?" asked Boo-omb as it started to form away from the canvas. "You will now feel the full power of a true Boo! You fools will soon see me in the afterlife!"

The Boo-omb looked just like a giant Boo with a wick on top that looked just like that of a Bob-omb. The Boo-omb himself was fifty feet tall by the time he was fully formed. Immediately, the wick was lit.

"There's no way we can outrun that thing!" shouted Luigi. "And there's no way we can stop it from blowing up!"

"Try using the Poltergusts!' Mario shouted.

They all did so, but to no avail. Boo-omb started a count down, "Ten... nine... eight... seven... six... five..."

"We're dead," said Waluigi. "There's no winning, and I need to decide what I want on my gravestone... in three seconds!"

"Not if we have anything to say about it!" said a Boo from out of nowhere. It was a Boo dressed like a spy **(his name is James Boo)**, and behind him were Bow, Bootler, and Vivian. **(I couldn't think of any other hero Boos, okay?) **They each touched one of the heroes and allowed them to survive the explosion. The explosion still hurt them, but the damage was minimal compared to what it could have been, and they were all happy just to be alive.

"Thanks everybody," Mario said. "I was afraid we wouldn't survive that one, and I don't get that feeling often!"

"Who's this guy?" asked Waluigi, pointing to Bootler. "And why did he just save me?"

"Good evening, sir. My name is Bootler, and I am Lady Bow's personal butler and only remaining staff member at her mansion."

"Did you say mansion?" asked Wario, as he looked at Vivian. "There wouldn't happen to be any treasure there, would there?"

"I'm not Bow, she is," explained Vivian as she pointed to Bow, who was protecting Luigi. "And what does that matter right now?"

"So where's the rest of the resistance?" asked Luigi.

"We are the rest of the resistance, all that ever was the resistance," explained James Boo. "And it's quite a prediciment we're in. However, it won't take them long to realize you four survived; we'll explain everything to you once you're all safe."

"But ghosts can't go in the Temple of Unity," Mario explained.

"They can if we let them," said Red. "If it kept out all ghosts, we couldn't have sealed Yoshevil in there, or go in there ourselves."

"Good point," said Luigi. "Then let's hurry!"

By about eleven, the twelve of them were back at the Temple of Unity, all tired and exhausted. Mario didn't even bother to place the statue, they decided they could do that in the morning...

***while wearing ear plugs* DID MORTON SHUT UP YET?! HE DID? O.K.! *removes ear plugs* See you next time!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello, all! Sorry this is late. I decided to take Monday off. Enjoy!**

Chapter 7: Winds of Change

5:03 AM; Two days remain; Temple of Unity

**watch?v=28udOm5DFjw**

Everyone was up early and groggy from the night before. The four Podoboos, the three Boos, and Vivian all seemed to be sick.

"You guys okay?" Mario asked. "Can Boos get sick?"

"That was a Boo-omb," James Boo explained, "and quite a powerful one at that. It wasn't targeted at you, a Boo-omb would only be targetted at a spirit, and the only target could have been the Podoboos."

"We'll be fine," said Red, though he was having trouble floating. "We need to hurry to the other two temples quickly, perhaps doing them both today."

"That would be difficult enough under normal conditions," said Green, "but after that blast, there's no way we can do them both in one day!"

"So why didn't van Gore go after us?" Wario asked. "We're the ones he should be afraid of!"

"He was trying to make sure you were unable to reach the next temple," Yellow said. "But we must continue to the east, to the Wind Temple."

"I thought we were supposed to go to the south yesterday," Waluigi said. "Whatever happened to what Madame Clairvoya said?"

"I'm not sure," Luigi said. "Let's see if Gil has any information, he might know. After all, he is the professor's assistant!"

Luigi got out his GBH and called the lab. Toadsworth appeared with eyes that showed he hadn't slept at all the night before.

"Are you okay, Toadsworth?" Luigi asked. "You forget how to sleep or something?"

"How can one get sleep in a time such as this?" Toadsworth said. "The princess is missing, Gadd is being held hostage, the princess is missing, I've failed my job again, the princess is missing, an unbelievably powerful Boo is trying to destroy all of existance, and did I mention that the princess is missing?"

_What else is new?_ Luigi thought to himself, then spoke to Toadsworth. "We'll rescue them, but we need to talk to Gil."

"The young chap is asleep right now, do you have any idea what time it is?" Toadsworth asked. "You really ought to rest up!"

Look who's talking! Luigi thought, then continued, "It's really important, we need some information off of Gadd's computer."

"Why don't I just try to find it myself? It couldn't be too difficult," Toadsworth suggested.

Just then, Gil walked by with a bowl of oatmeal, completely awake.

"What are you doing up so early?" Toadsworth asked. "A young Toad such as you shouldn't be up this early!"

"I'm twenty-three," Gil said. "And besides, I never sleep in. Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. Speaking of which, you look like you could really take that advice, especially the 'early to bed' part."

Luigi laughed and then asked Gil, "Do you have access to Gadd's files on ghost hunting?"

"Most of them, but some of them he's locked me out of," Gil said, then whispered into the microphone, "But if you need me to, I can hack into them."

"Can you tell me of anything that would weaken Madame Clairvoya's fortune telling abilities?" Luigi asked. "The fortune she gave us wasn't exactly accurate."

"Easy, any Boos allied with Yoshevil gain power as the eclipse nears," Gil explained, "and any against him are drained of their strength; don't even have to look that one up!"

"Could you tell me anything about what a Boo-omb would do to a Boo?" Luigi asked.

"Sure, I'll have the info ready in a few seconds. Mind humming the Jeopardy theme while you wait?" Gil asked. "It helps me work faster."

Wario laughed, as did Waluigi. Mario couldn't care either way, so he just smiled and shrugged. However, Luigi was fond of the show, so he hummed it anyway.

"Okay!" Gil said. "You need to work on your humming, but here's what I've got.

"According to the computer, a Boo-omb will 'weaken a Boo greatly, and they won't be able to phase through anything until the next solar eclipse. Any Boos caught in the blast should be unable to give the ghost hunter any trouble after the blast.' Looks like you're pretty lucky to have found that thing, but one last note, 'A Boo-omb, although most effective against ghosts and other such undead creatures, has the capability of knocking any living creatures unconscious, although unharmed. Caution should be taken when using a Boo-omb, as the blast area is much greater then that of a Boo Bomb.' Wow! You guys know how rare those things are? You've got to show it to me when you get back from your adventure!"

"We don't have a Boo-omb, we had one used against us," Luigi explained, "and it looks like our friends won't be able to help us after all."

"Nonsense!" James Boo said. "Even when I was alive I was a master of stealth! I haven't used my old methods in a while, but I assure you I can be just as invisible with or without being able to phase through objects!"

"Well, I can still go into the floor and through walls," Vivian said as she demonstrated. "Why didn't it hurt me?"

"You're not exactly a ghost, are you?" Mario asked.

"No, I've never been more alive than I am now," she explained.

"Like that's saying much," Wario joked. "I know how we can decide this!"

"You know something? That's a first!" Mario mocked.

"Shut up, sewage breath!" Wario shouted. "And watch the true genius at work!"

"If you're a genius, I'd hate to see an idiot!" Waluigi joked.

Wario ignored them, and pulled out his Poltergust 3002. He attempted to suck up Vivian with it. She just stood there, but her hat was sucked into the machine.

"Her hat is a ghost!" Wario shouted. "She's not the ghost, I just saved her from the ghost, which means she owes me money!"

"You know that it can still be used like a regular vacuum cleaner, right?" Luigi asked.

Wario gave Luigi an angry glare, but didn't say anything.

"So we can't fly through walls or turn invisible? So what?" Red asked. "We still have to go to the Wind Temple immediately. Yellow, that's your job. But first, Mario, activate the Fire Statue, please."

Mario nodded, and did as Red asked. The symbol of the Firebrand glowed through Mario's glove.

"You may now call upon the Ultra Fire Drive whenever you need it," Red explained. "And with the Firebrand under your control, you should be able to power it up even more."

"The Fire Drive?" Mario said, perplexed. "I've been able to do that without the Quadramasher... Why does Luigi get a new move and I just get stuck with something I already have?"

"Maybe you should try it out in battle, you may be surprised by how different it is from the basic fire drive," Red suggested. "Just make sure no one else is near you when you use it, it isn't a very, um... friendly attack, if you know what I mean."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure Wario's the only one around before using it," Mario joked. "Are we ready to go?"

"Can't we finish up our bout from yesterday first?" Wario asked. "I mean, it was just getting good when you broke up the fight!"

"NO!" shouted everyone except Mario and Wario.

"I'll go," said Bootler, "but I insist on Lady Bow staying behind; she is in no condition to fight."

"Oh, I'll be fine," she said. "Especially with a big strong Boo like James around."

"Actually, you should all stay here and hold the fort," Green started. "With the eclipse only a day away, the barrier might not hold any more. The evil Boos are getting too strong, and I doubt the barrier can take any more."

"What do you mean by take any more?" Luigi asked. "I don't remember the Boos attacking it."

"Did you check outside the past two nights?" Yellow asked. "I agree, we need someone to protect the temple, since we probably can't get both statues and return in one day."

"Fine, I don't mind staying," said Vivian.

"I'm not used to hiding in a friendly base," James said. "Perhaps I could find and infiltrate the Palace of Shadow."

"Underneath Rogueport, just fly straight down from the center of town," Luigi said. "Mario told me all about it."

"I can't fly through anything right now," James reminded him. "And although I can't turn invisible either, that doesn't mean they'll be able to see me."

"Oh, that's right," Luigi said. "Maybe you should just stay here, then."

"Fine," James agreed, "but I'm not too good at defending whole forts."

"Ahm come on! Defending a fort is much easier than sneaking into one!" Waluigi said.

"You're right, this will be easy!" he agreed.

"That's the spirit, James!" Bow said.

"Don't use my name! Call me 008!" he shouted. **(Try typing his code name into a calculator and then turning it upside down!) **

"Everyone ready?" Mario asked.

The plumbers nodded as the three Boos and the Shadow Siren waved goodbye.

"Then we're off!" said Purple.

5:37 AM; Palace of Shadows

**watch?v=aO_z2nO3ByM**

Van Gore and Boolossus were in the throne room arguing with each other over who should be second in command. Yoshevil was watching, and although he didn't mind the yelling, he was getting quite bored with the conversation. He sighed and then got an idea.

"You two, bring me my brother, and capture that Bowser creature again!" Yoshevil said. "You can each choose one of them, and you'll have until noon today to train whichever one of them you pick. Then, come back with him here, and they'll fight. Whoever wins, their coach will become my second in command!"

"And what are the rules, Your Greatness?" Boolossus asked.

"Simple, anything goes except attacking the other coach," Yoshevil said. "Having someone else attack him for you is also forbidden. However, attacking the fighter is allowed at any time, even before the match. Now, to decide who gets to have who, we'll flip a coin. Heads, and Boolossus gets my brother, otherwise van Gore does. Understood?"

The two of them nodded, and he flipped a coin. It landed on heads.

"You'll find Bowser trapped in a tree a few feet south of the ruins to his new castle," Yoshevil explained. "And you'll find my brother's picture suspended about half an inch above the lava of the Barrel Volcano, about ten miles east of there. Do not go north, that's the Hotfoot Volcano. Well, what are you two waiting for? Go and get them!"

And with that, the two of them flew off to find their new servants.

10:12 AM; Sky Land Tower

**watch?v=Ob7WHx13X7A**

"This place brings back bad memories," Luigi said.

"What are you talking about?" Mario asked. "We stopped Roy, returned the king to normal, saved the day, and found a faster route to the spice mines of Ice Land! Not to mention we got to use the legendary Kuribo's Shoe, which I'll never forget! How can this give you bad memories?"

"Let's see, I fell from the tower as we were climbing, without Raccoon power I might add," Luigi started. "We got separated in the tunnel on our way here, you got the only Kuribo's shoe, which left me to jump over the Munchers unsuccessfully, Roy gave me a black eye, and I found out that shaking hands with the king is the same as declaring war on him! Does any of that ring a bell?"

"Actually, no," Mario said. "You sure that wasn't that nightmare that kept you up the first day we were in Ice Land?"

"Oh, yeah... never mind," Luigi laughed, but everyone else just sighed in an annoyed manner.

"I am the better one," Waluigi said.

"You want to duke this out with Quadramashers?" Luigi asked. "Or is Mr. Pipecleaner too scared?"

"And give myself a hundred bruises? Yeah right!" Waluigi laughed. "Just remember that after all of this is over, you'll be wishing you had that curse to protect you from me!"

"Any time you're ready, and did I mention that purple is very feminine?" Luigi asked.

"It is not!" Waluigi snarled. "And besides, my hat isn't purple, it's a redish blue!"

"Fine then, you're right, it's not purple," Luigi said with a mocking smile on his face.

"Did he just say Waluigi was right?" Wario asked.

"He's probably trying to time a comeback," Mario said.

"It's violet!" Luigi shouted. "Which is even worse!"

"Maybe you should stop it, Luigi, you might upset Purple," Mario suggested.

"Why would I take insult from their childish antics?" Purple asked.

"Well, he unintentionally called you feminine," Mario said. "To most guys, that's an insult."

"I'm a woman," Purple said.

"Sorry, kind of hard to tell with Podoboos," Mario said.

"Look who's insulting Purple unintentionally now," Luigi said.

"Can we just do this without you four fighting?" Red asked. "In case you forget, we still need to get up there and go to the Wind Temple."

"And after that, we still need to go to the Water Temple as well," Green reminded them.

"So let's start the ascent," Yellow said. "Watch out: although only the path to the temple, the Tower is like a trial within itself. Although you needn't worry about passing a trial like the ones in the temples, it is still very trying to climb it."

"You obviously haven't seen how much this place has changed in the last ten millenia," Mario said. "The tower isn't that hard to climb at all, especially with these!"

Mario pulled four Tanooki Suits out of his pocket, and handed one to each of his fellow plumbers. They immediately put them on.

"Now we can just fly to the top!" he said. "You four can still fly up, right?"

"If we can hover, we can fly," Purple said.

"Then here we go!" Mario shouted as the four of them flew up to the top.

It took them less than a minute to ascend the tower. They did so with ease, and no hinderance.

"That was even easier than last time," Mario said.

"So where to now?" Luigi asked. "I've always felt uncomfortable with standing on clouds, so can we please do this quickly?"

"Fine with me. The quicker, the better," Red agreed.

"Wario, stand on the very center tile of the tower," Yellow said.

"Who do you think you're bossin' around?" Wario quirked.

"Please, we don't have time for this," Green said.

"Fine, but that pharoah hat better pay off big time!" Wario snarled as he did as Yellow had said.

"Now lift up your Quadramasher, and just wait for a few seconds," Yellow said.

Wario did so, and a spiralling rainbow path that led even higher appeared.

"Oh great, as if walking on clouds wasn't enough to give me a heart attack, now I have to walk on a rainbow," Luigi said. "This is really getting annoying."

They climbed up until the air started to get thin. The path came to a dead end.

"What now?" Mario asked.

"Oh no!" Purple said. "We forgot, the Twilight Palace only appears at night!"

"The what?" Waluigi said. "I thought we were going to the Wind Temple."

"The Twilight Palace has a resting place for the four Quadramahsers," Red explained, "and when they are there, the tower raises up. Then, at the ground, a door appears to another part of the tower. That part of the tower is the Wind Temple."

"Why can't the tower appear during the day?" Luigi asked.

"As long as the sun shines on something made of twilight bricks, they temporarily cease to exist," Green explained.

"And up here, there are no clouds to block the sun, so even during a storm, the sun shines on the palace during the day."

"You need something to block the sun then..." Mario said as he pondered. "Everyone, stand back!"

He pulled out his Quadramasher, and used the Ultra Fire Drive. The attack didn't have a target, but it created a lot of smoke. A few parts of the palace could be seen, but then dissappeared as the smoke evaporated into the thin air.

"It's too thin up here, I can't keep the flames going long," Mario explained. "There's no way I'd be able to create a large enough flame to last until we got the Quadramashers in and then got out. Actually, I'm not even sure I could make one large enough to last until we get inside!"

"I've got an idea!" Luigi said, "I'll try charging up enough electricity with the Thunderhand to make a thunderstorm, and that'll block the sun!"

"No, the clouds would gather below us, and the thunderstorm would simply make it harder for us to climb down the tower," Mario said. "What about you four, can you make a large flame together or something, like the Shadow Podoboos made the Fryguy?"

"If we were at full strength, perhaps," Red said, "but certainly not in our current condition."

"That's it!" Wario said. "I've got a great idea!"

"There's a first!" Waluigi laughed. "Not that we've got anything better to do, so tell us, and then we can all point and laugh at you!"

"You want to kiss the dirt?" Wario asked. "It would probably kill you from this height!"

"Just tell us your idea," Green said.

"We could burn these pictures," Wario said as he pulled out the picture of the Podoboo that he had captured in the Earth Temple.

"The problem isn't kindlin, we need more oxygen," Mario said.

"Wait, he might actually be on to something," Yellow said. "Spectral flames don't require oxygen to burn, but they still create smoke."

"Well, let's hope they can burn long enough to do this," Mario said as the others handed him their pictures. He placed them on the path, and put the one from his pocket with them. He only used a small amount of energy to light them, and they lit up brightly.

"Hurry, we'll make sure the flames stay lit. Just enter, and you'll see four slots in the wall," Purple explained. "Just put the Quadramashers in all of them at the same time, and turn them ninety degrees clockwise. The tower will then be at the height of the rainbow path, and you'll be able to enter the Wind Temple."

The four of them ran in, and already they saw the palace beginning to fade again. They saw the wall, and did as Purple had said. The roof of the palace had already disappeared, and the walls were fading fast. They turned the hammers, and heard the rumble of the tower raising up. They tried to run towards the exit, but the floor had faded between them, and even together, the Mario Bros. couldn't make the jump, much less Waluigi, and especially not Wario.

"This doesn't look good," Mario said. "We're getting less and less ground to stand on every second."

"I'm too rich to die!" Wario cried.

"If I'm going down, at least I know that Green Bean won't outlive me!" Waluigi said. "But I'd rather survive. Somebody do something quick!"

"Okay," Luigi said, and then he sat down and started to suck his thumb.

"Not that!" Mario said, as they were forced to stand together on a single tile. It disappeared, and they began to fall.

"At this rate, we'll reach the ground in about forty seconds," Luigi said. "Too bad we don't have the Feathers, otherwise we could just use the capes to float down!"

"Wait a minute!" Mario said, "What were we thinking? We're wearing Tanooki Suits!"

The four of them then started flapping their tails so that they fell gently to the ground below.

10:54 AM; Wind Temple entrance

**watch?v=28udOm5DFjw**

The door showed a tornado as the symbol where the mountain and volcano had been on the other temples. The four Podoboos took a few minutes to fly down low enough for the plumbers to see.

"You must prepare yourself for the trial of wits," Red said. "You won't need weapons other than the Quadramasher needed to open the door... I hope."

"So what should we expect?" Waluigi asked. "Or can you not tell us for some obscure and ridiculous reason?"

"You can expect to have to use your head, and don't take anything for exactly what it means," Green said.

"And the less sense something makes, the more important it usually is," Purple added.

"When you're ready, Wario, you may open the door," Yellow concluded.

"Time to show this temple who's boss!" Wario said as he slammed the Quadramasher into the slot on the door, and then removed it. The door opened, and revealed a long hallway with a door at the end. Other than that, it had plenty of torches on each side, and was relatively empty. The four of them went through the hall, and realized that the door had a message engraved into it. The message was in a language unfamiliar to any of them but Yellow. Luigi gave everyone a worried look as Yellow proceeded to read it.

"It's in Quatrorian," Yellow said. "That's the language that I spoke all my life. This sure brings back memories, but we haven't any time for me to reminisce. It says:

"To the heroes who wish to work as one, we present you this trial. At each of these doors, you must read a riddle. Each of you must solve one riddle, and never are you allowed to speak with one another after this first door. This door is to be solved by all four of you, and then it will open. We wish you luck in the future, and may you never need to use the power found in this sacred temple.

"Then there is a second paragraph, this seems to be the riddle itself... ha! You should have no trouble with this one! The riddle reads,

_**"I have a nose and yet no head, **_

_**I have two wings, heavy as lead, **_

_**Despite my wings, feathers I lack, **_

_**Although no legs, I've a tail in back, **_

_**Put it together, and I can fly, **_

_**Can you tell me, what am I? **_

"That's it," Yellow said.

"A nose, but yet no head?" Wario asked. "Is this a true story?"

"It's a riddle, you airhead!" Mario said. "Let's see, all birds have feathers, so it can't be a bird."

"Maybe it's a bat," Luigi said.

"No, bats have legs and a head," Waluigi said.

"You're an airplane!" Wario shouted.

"Is that your idea of an insult?" Waluigi asked. "If you really want to mess with Mario's head, call him short or something, don't just call him random objects!"

The door opened, and Wario laughed.

"Come on, you numbskulls," Wario said. "I've got a trial to pass!"

The path that opened was shorter, and looked identical to the last one, with the exception of the hall's length. Upon closer inspection, however, the plain stone tile pattern was broken with a small circle directly in front of the blank door.

"So, who's first?" Yellow asked. "You'll have to stand here until the other three go on ahead."

"I'll go first," Luigi said. "I've never been too good with riddles, so I'll take the easy one."

"Okay, step on the circular tile," Yellow instructed.

A light surrounded Luigi after he did so, and an inscription made of pure light appeared on the door.

"I can't read it," Luigi said, although no one could hear him but Yellow.

"They can't hear you, Luigi," Yellow explained. "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, can you?" Luigi asked.

"Yes, here's the riddle," Yellow said as he read it aloud. "Oh, wow! This one is almost as old as me! What walks by four legs in the morning, two during the noon, and three in the evening?"

"I know this one! That's the riddle of the Sphinx!" Luigi said. "And back in high school Mario told me that taking mythology would never pay off! The answer is man, who crawls on his hands as a child, walks on two legs as a man, and uses a cane when stricken by age."

The door opened, but the circle of light was still surrounding Luigi, and he couldn't get out.

"Why is it the circle still here?" Luigi asked.

"Yellow did say that we would have to stay there until the trial is complete," Mario reminded him.

"I wanna go next!" Wario shouted. "Outta the way, losers!" Wario ran up to the next hallway, which looked exactly the same as the last one (with no exceptions this time). "Read it to me!" Wario shouted, not even on the circular tile yet.

"You have to step on the tile first," Yellow sighed.

Wario did so, and shouted, "Well? What are you waiting for?"

Yellow grumbled in Quatrorian, and then looked at the door to read the riddle. "It goes something like this:

**"Valuable I am, that you know, **

**Try to scratch me, you'll fail to do so, **

**Rare it is for one to find me, **

**What am I, can you see? **

"That's it, and you should be able to get this one with ease, knowing your one-track mind!" Yellow quipped.

"It's money!" Wario shouted. The torches on the left side of the hallway went dark.

"No! Be careful, you only get three guesses!" Yellow warned him.

"Well, gold is hard, and rare, so gold!" Wario shouted.

The rest of the torches in his hallway went out. Mario and Waluigi were complaining about how easy the riddle was, but Wario could only see their mouths moving.

"Think! You need to think!" Yellow shouted.

"Diamonds?" Wario said with a worried voice. The door opened.

"I'll take the next one," Mario said. "Can you handle the last one?"

"No problem!" Waluigi said. "Just remember, you and your brother owe me!"

Mario stepped onto the tile, and awaited Yellow's translation.

"This one is a bit trickier then the last three," Yellow warned, "but here it is:

**"Who am I, I that am invisible to your eye, **

**'Cept when the moon blocks the rest of me from the sky, **

**To look at me at any time, a bad idea it would be, **

**You ask me, 'Who am I?' You tell me! **

"That is how the inscription reads," Yellow said, "and I'm not sure what the answer is myself..."

"Hmm... interesting," Mario said. "Why do I have a feeling the answer is close by? Are you a star?"

Nothing happened.

"Odd, it should have either opened the door if correct, or blown out half the torches in this hallway if not," Yellow said in a very perplexed manner.

"Unless it isn't correct, but still true," Mario said, then thought for a few more moments before he said. "It's the sun, part of it anyways. You are the Coronasphere! Visible to the naked eye only during a total solar eclipse. This proves once and for all that taking astronomy instead of joining Luigi in mythology was a better choice."

Yellow laughed, and decided that he wouldn't tell the Mario Bros. of what the other had said.

The door opened up, revealing a much larger door at the end of the final hallway, which got larger until it actually reached the door. Before the circular tile were a few stairs, three to be exact, that raised the floor a bit. Waluigi ran towards the door and stepped on the circular tile. "Here goes nothing," he said.

"I still can't beleive I didn't get that last one," Yellow said. "It was so obvious!"

"What about this riddle, what does it say?" Waluigi asked. "Come on, you and the other Podoboos kept complaining about how slow we were goin', so come on!"

"I don't even have the faintest idea what this one means," Yellow said, "but here it goes:

**"Take a number, and add a letter for my name to be complete, **

**Take this new letter, count the times it appears in defeat, **

**Use the letter that matches that number to savor, **

**Add a dark fruit that begins with the letter for flavor, **

**Put me in the over, don't let me fry, **

**Now put me in your mouth, tell me, what am I? **

"Who do they think this team is made of, Albert Einstien, Thomas Alva Edison, Benjamin Franklin, and Leonardo da Vinci?" Yellow asked with a shout. "This is impossible!"

"Well, at least I have two brains to figure this out," Waluigi said.

"Even if I could help you, I haven't a clue what it means!" Yellow said.

"I wasn't talking about your brain! I think that I got Wario's brain before I was born, and that's why he's so stupid," Waluigi joked.

"This isn't the time to joke around!" Yellow shouted. "You have to figure out the answer to an impossible riddle! And you only get three guesses!"

"This will be a piece of cake!" Waluigi said.

Half of the lanterns went out.

"Hey! That wasn't my answer!" Waluigi shouted. "Wait a minute, cake, that's it! You're a blueberry pie!"

The rest of the torches went out.

"Wait, not blue, you're a blackberry pie!" Waluigi said with his fingers crossed.

The lights surrounding the tiles disappeared, all the torches lit back up, and the door opened to reveal a shaft of steam rushing upwards.

Mario ran up to the door, then Wario, and lastly Luigi.

"Wario, step into the airshaft and it will take you to the shrine of the statue," Yellow said. "But be careful, I've a feeling that another ghost may be protecting it."

Wario ignored the warning and stepped into the shaft. He floated there for a few seconds, until the air finally blasted him up.

"I don't understand," Yellow said. "How was the answer blackberry pie?"

"The number I started with was the greek letter pi, which is a number in English. Add a letter, the letter 'e' to be exact, and it spelled out 'pie'," Waluigi said, "The letter 'e' appears twice in defeat, and the letter that matches the number 'two' is the second letter in the alphabet, 'b'. A dark fruit that started with that letter 'b' is blackberry. Put them together, and you get blackberry pie!"

11:55 AM; Palace of Shadows: Throne Room

**watch?v=XHhtj_r8Qbc**

Bowser and King Boo were both worried, they knew each was a formidable foe. Boolossus and van Gore just smiled, each of them certain they had the stronger fighter.

"You two have five minutes to give any last weapons or advice to your fighter," Yoshevil said. "You won't be able to do anything but watch once it strikes noon!"

Boolossus gave King Boo a ? Block, and King Boo looked inside of it without revealing the item. The previous ruler of ghosts smiled sinisterly as he held the box closely.

Vincent simply took out his canvas and painted a ? Block, which he gave to his representative as well.

"So why are we here again?" Bowser asked.

"These two are both very powerful, and they both want to be my second in command," Yoshevil explained. "Whichever one of you two wins not only gets themselves off my torture list, but also makes their coach second in command. But, the fight won't be whoever gives up first loses, and seeing as my brother is one of the combatants, I can't very well ask you to fight to the death. So, the rules of the match are simple: make sure you inflict as much pain and torment on your opponent as possible. Now, my two judges will fly into you, and when you've had enough pain to lose, that judge will fly out of you and do with you as he pleases! And the judge will make you wish that your opponent was still beating you up! You have one minute left for any other stupid questions or preparations as of... now!"

van Gore quickly painted three more pictures. Two of them were spectral shields, one of which he kept for himself while the other he gave one to Yoshevil. Then he gave a camcorder to Bowser, and whispered something into Bowser's ear.

"Stop everything! No more preparations allowed!" Yoshevil said. "But before this battle begins, tell me, van Gore, why are you giving this to me?"

"Zee answer eez quite simple, my mastair!" Van Gore said. "Knowing zee past of Bowsair, he haz proven heemself to be disloyal. With zee weapons I gave to heem, I thought we might need some protection."

"I have no need for this pathetic excuse of protection!" Yoshevil said. "Boolossus, here, you can use it, but not for my brother! Van Gore may be right, Bowser will probably try to attack one or both of you two."

"We thank you, Master!" Boolossus said.

"And what have I told you about that?" Yoshevil shouted. "Unless you want to fight me, you will either separate or refer to yourself as a single entity!"

"Forgive u- um, forgive me, Master," Boolossus said.

"Judges!" Yoshevil shouted, and then two ordinary Boos appeared and flew into Bowser and King Boo.

"Begin!" Yoshevil said.

Bowser immediately did his Fire Storm attack **(where he breathes fire into the air in Super Mario 64, but only in the third fight against him)**. King Boo instantly turned invisible and phased through the flames as they fell. After the flames burnt out, King Boo summoned his Bowser bot.

"Hey! That's an infringement of copyright!" Bowser shouted. "Time to show you what a real Koopa can do!"

Bowser opened up his ? Block to reveal a Super Mushroom. Bowser ate it, and turned into Giga Bowser.

With one hit of his Blizzard Spin **(smash down attack)**, Billion Bowser broke Bowser Bot. **(Say that five times fast, and you win all the lint in my pocket!) **

"You still can't hit me, you fool!" King Boo said.

Giga Bowser used his Dark Smash **(smash forward attack)** and the dark energy made King Boo vulnerable.

King Boo laughed and said, "That all you have? Try this on for size!"

King Boo opened up his ? Block to reveal a Blue Spiny Shell. He threw it at Giga Bowser, creating a blinding flash of destruction. When everyone could see again, Bowser was still standing, but barely able to stand. Also, he was no longer in his Giga form. Bowser growled and then gave his own laugh as he pulled the camcorder from inside of his shell. King Boo was sucked into it, and then the judge from King Boo flew out of the camcorder.

"Never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually feeling sorry for your brother," the judge said to Yoshevil. "No ghost should have to go through that!"

"Sounds like my type of victory!" Yoshevil laughed, then snatched the camcorder out of Bowser's hands. "Van Gore, explain what this thing does!"

Just then, from the front entrance to the throne room, Gadd came in, lab coat torn and dusty, with a battered up Poltergust 3002.

"You call that guy a prison guard? He was so scared of me he gave me the keys!" Gadd said, then he turned and pointed to van Gore. "Now, you of all monsters are especially going down! No one steals my inventions!"

Gadd flipped the switch and started to suck up van Gore.

"Boolossus, stop the prisoner at once!" Yoshevil shouted. "Vincent, explain yourself!"

"Zees weapon I gave to Bowsair eez something I saw when I was torturing zee preesonairs!" van Gore said as Boolossus ignored the battle.

"Interesting," Yoshevil said. "Boolossus! I told you to stop the prisoner!"

"Oh, fine! Just when things were getting good!" Boolossus sighed as they **(Oh great, now Boolossus has me doing it!) **broke the Poltergust 3002.

"You ghouls are fools if you think I'll let you get me that easily," Gadd said as he revealed his Banshee Bath Robe under his lab coat. "A good genuis always has a backup plan!"

Gadd started to walk through the walls in an attempt to escape, when Yoshevil stepped in and grabbed the professor.

"Interesting," Yoshevil said as he held the camcorder. "It seems my servants actually fear you... Explain to me what this device does."

"Simple," Gadd said. "You take a picture of a ghost, and they get put into whatever tape is in the recorder at the time."

"And just what movie did you put in it?" Yoshevil asked.

"Respect your elders!" Gadd shouted, then remembered Yoshevil's age. "Oh, never mind the elders part. You know, you'd probably get a lot more cooperation if you said please."

"How's this? Please don't make me kill you!" Yoshevil shouted.

"Not exactly what I meant, but I seem to be in no position to argue," Gadd sighed. "It's not one movie on the tape though, it's three."

"Just answer my question, what are the movies?" Yoshevil said with the jewel on his ring glowing.

"Ghostbusters, Ghostbuster 2, and Ghostbusters 3," Gadd said with a meek laugh.

Yoshevil laughed, then smiled with a sinister look in his eye, and said, "For someone who hates ghosts so much, you sure have a good sense of humor."

"I don't hate ghosts," Gad said. "I hate evil ghosts and evil Yoshis."

"Well then, I'm sure that I can fix that!" Yoshevil said as his jewel glowed brightly. "And this time, I'm going to make sure this minion is loyal!"

A flash of lightning stuck Gadd, and he fell to the ground. When Gadd got up, he looked around with a confused look, and said, "What just happened, Master?"

"I was making you my second in command when my brother tried to betray me," Yoshevil said. "He hit you instead, and van Gore's pet here stopped him."

"Really? What a magnificent specimen," Gadd said as he poked and studied Bowser. "Master, if I may, I'd take this specimen into my lab for study?"

"What did you call me?" Bowser growled. "You're nothing without your machines, old man! Don't think that I can't take you on!"

Gadd pulled out Bowser's tongue and punched the Koopa King, then said, "You care to repeat that, youngin'?"

"No shir!" Bowser said with difficulty. "I'm ma shpeckiman, got ith."

"Do what you like, just make sure you invent more torture devices," Yoshevil laughed as Gadd walked off, with Bowser still being dragged by his tongue.

"Zees eez an outrage!" van Gore shouted. "Bowsair won, and zerefore, I am to be your second een command!"

"Shut up, you fool!" Yoshevil shouted. "The only reason Bowser won was because of the professor's torture device, which I'm hoping he'll make a lot more of. Besides, if you really want me to listen to you, then please, try to force me to do so. I'm sure my brother wouldn't mind company. Now, unless you're foolish enough to try to attack me, go and wait outside the Wind Temple. I have a feeling the plumbers should be finishing up there. And take Boolossus with you, he hasn't been doing anything useful.

12:05 PM; Wind Temple inner sanctum

**watch?v=AJj6GGLaIfI**

Wario was in a large circular room, just like the first two, except for the fact that the symbol on the floor was a tornado. Wario picked it up and the earth started to shake.

"What's going on?" Wario asked. He ran back to the shaft and fell down face-first. When he got up, the earth was still shaking.

"What'd you do this time?" Mario asked.

"Nothing, I just pulled out the statue," Wario snarled. "It was probably your fault, fire starter!"

"Let's get out of here now!" Yellow said. "The temple is sinking back into the ground where it belongs!"

"You could've warned us about that before we entered the temple!" Luigi said.

"Less talking, more running!" Waluigi said as he was the first to run off.

The others soon followed. When they were in the first hallway, they were ambushed by Boolossus.

**watch?v=ZpUJ1uGGRFw**

"Hello Luigi, remember us?" he asked.

"Tried to forget, but yeah," Luigi said. "Ready for me to put you on ice again?"

"You can't defeat us with ice again, there's no ice elementals here," Boolossus reminded him. "How do you expect to stop us now?"

"We'll find a way... I hope," Luigi sighed.

"We haven't got time for this," Yellow said. "And how dare you come into this temple, it's forbidden!"

"Ooh, the big bad Podoboo is threatening us, whatever shall we do?" Boolossus asked sarcastically. "Put a sock in it, hot head! Hey, why are you helping these four anyway?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but my friends outside and I are the four who originally sealed Yoshevil away," Yellow said. "Honestly, I'd think that his second in command would know at least a quarter of what he does, but your head is as empty as it looks!"

"Actually, we're not his-" Boolossus almost told them about Gadd, then paused and said, "We mean we're not as stupid as we look!"

"Ha! Is that supposed to be a comeback?" Wario asked. "We'll beat you up in no time!"

"Look who's talking, bones for brains!" Boolossus said. "Hey, is it just me, or is it getting bright in here?"

"Thunderhand!" Luigi shouted as a bolt of lightning stunned Boolossus.

"I've got an idea," Waluigi said. "Wario, put each hand to the side of your head and stand still!"

"What are you doing?" Wario asked as he got into position.

Waluigi climbed into one of the holes formed by Wario's arms and signaled to Luigi to do the same, then he said, "You could call it a double Bros. Attack."

Luigi climbed in, and everyone but Waluigi was still confused.

"Mario, hit your brother and I with the Quadramasher charged up, understand?" Waluigi asked.

"Okie-dokie! I get it now!" Mario said as he prepared to hit his brother. "Green Missile... fire!"

Luigi flew head first into Boolossus. **(Green Missile is the forward B attack in Super Smash Bros. Melee.) **

Mario recharged the Quadramasher and shouted, "Purple Missile... fire!"

The same thing happened to Waluigi. Boolossus shattered into the fifteen Boos that formed him.

"You still can't stop us!" Boolossus said in unison. "We can still reform easily."

When they tried to do so, they succeeded, but little did Boolossus notice that shattering him was only a distraction.

"Glad we got out of there in time," Mario said as the door to the temple finished sinking back into the dust from whence it came.

"Yeah, that was too close!" Luigi said.

"I agree!" Wario said. "I was afraid I'd never get to see my precious gold again!"

"Let's hurry up and go to the Water Temple," Purple said. "We haven't got much time."

"I agree, vecauze your time eez up!" said van Gore as he appeared from the shadows. "And say hello to an old friend, the Anceent Black Jew-wel of Greed!"

Vincent van Gore revealed a canvas from behind him, and started to paint.

"The what?" Mario asked. "This has to be something you fought, Wario."

"What gave it away?" Wario asked. "I never told anyone about that adventure."

"The word 'greed' is in the name, that has your name written all over it!" Mario said.

"I'll zee you untalented swines later, I am certain of eet!" van Gore said as he disappeared.

"Brace yourselves, everyone!" Wario said as the Ancient Black Jewel of Greed came to life.

**Uh-oh…See you next time!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Welcome! This time you get to meet a forgotten face! (and no, I'm not talking about Wart!)**

Chapter 8: Old Friends

**watch?v=kQmTRb_3vpk**

"So how do we fight this thing?" Luigi asked.

"We just hit the Spritelings trapped in the crystals into him," Wario said. "Easy as knocking the stuffing out of my Mario punching bags!"

"You care to repeat that?" Mario asked.

"Sure: Easy as knocking the stuffing out of my Mario punching bags!'" Wario echoed.

"After all of this is over, so are you!" Mario said with a glare in his eye directed towards Wario. "And where are these 'Spritelings' that you're reffering to?"

"They should be circled around the jewel. And why does he get such a cool name?" Wario asked.

"Please say you're not refering to the Ancient Black Jewel of Greed!" Mario sighed. "That's the dumbest name I've ever heard!"

"I'd love to have people say that Greed is my last name!" Wario said.

"You've got to be kidding me," Mario sighed. "We'll just have to find another way to beat him. Or maybe that's a she. Does that thing even have a gender?"

"Now he asks," Purple complained.

"Let's see how this thing holds up against a Quadramasher!" Mario said.

"Bros. Attack! Diamond Crusher!" Waluigi shouted as Wario hammered him into the ground.

Wario then jumped on top of Waluigi, who sprung up and pushed Wario high into the air. Wario positioned himself over the Black Jewel and but on some diamond-plated shorts. He then performed the ground pound, but missed as the Black Jewel quickly moved out of the way. The jewel then tried using his tentacles to grab and squeeze Wario. However, Waluigi threw his hammer into the air, and hit the Ancient Black Jewel of Greed's eye. The monster flinched as its attack missed Wario. All of a sudden, a ball hit the Black Jewel and bounced back to Luigi, who hit it back at the Black Jewel. This process repeated ten times.

"We're really rusty with that one," Luigi said.

"I agree," said Mario. "We used to be able to do twice that many hits without even breaking a sweat!"

"At least we know we can phase it, and that means we're hurting at, at least a little bit," Mario said.

"This will take forever, though!" Waluigi complained.

"I've got a faster way," Red said.

"First you four need to fly over it at the same time," Green explained.

"Then turn into statues at the exact same time," Yellow continued.

"The force should be enough to crack him," Purple concluded.

They did as the Podoboos said, and it did, indeed, crack the Ancient Black Jewel of Greed. However, the jewel still continued to attack them, this time grabbing all four of them with its tentacles.

_Who are these three guys?_ the Black Jewel thought. _And how did I get here? _

"Let go of them!" Red shouted as he and the rest of the Podoboos touched the beast's tentacles, setting them ablaze.

The Ancient Black Jewel of Greed let go of the four of them and burried his tentacles in the cool dirt, then looked at the half of his tentacles that had third degree burns.

_That's it!_ thought the Jewel. _You're dead, Yellow Pig!_

"Do you ever wonder if the enemies that can't talk to us are capable of intelligent thought?" Luigi asked. "Do you think they fight us because of instinct, or perhaps they can understand everything we say... Who knows?"

"Time for me to see what the statue does for me!" Wario shouted as he pounded his Quadramasher on the ground. "Hey, how come nothing happened?"

"You still need to place it in the Temple of Unity!" Green reminded him.

The Ancient Black Jewel of Greed shot a laser out of its eye at Wario. It hit, injuring all of them.

"Luigi, help me keep this thing busy," Mario said. "Wario, Waluigi, try your Diamond Smash again!"

Why are these bumbling idiots forewarning me of their attacks? the Black Jewel asked himself. Do they really think that I need ears to hear? If that were true, then Goombas, Koopas, Paratroopas, Lakitus, Piranha Plants, Spinies, Bulllet Bills, Buzzy Beetles, Hammer Bros, or even Bowser wouldn't be able to hear anything they say!

Wario was just putting on his diamond shorts when the Black Jewel whacked him to the ground.

"Let's try doing something my way!" Wario said as he climbed up a tree, and then jumped on top of the Black Jewel and started banging away with the Quadramasher. To everyone's suprise, it worked, shattering the Ancient Black Jewel of Greed once and for all (I hope).

"Glad that's over with!" Wario said, "Now, let's hurry up and find that last temple!"

1:37 PM; ?

**watch?v=0VgQR9XmDUI**

"Sir! The moon is approaching the point of the eclipse! Our covert-operative indicates that the enemy known as Yoshevil will destroy all if the Solar Eclipse isn't averted." said a strange figure. "Your orders, Commander?"

"I hate to say this, but we have no choice! We must ensure the Mario Bros. and their rivals survive at all costs!" said a scratchy voice with a sigh. "And besides, no way I'm letting someone that crazy succeed where I have failed! Tell the fleet to move in and protect those four at all costs!"

"Sir, yes sir!" said the strange figure. "Do you wish me to tell the fleets to defend them from above?"

"No, Private," said the leader of the two. "We need them to land and have the whole crew help to slow down this flying!"

"I don't mean to question your authority, sir, but is that possible?" the first one asked in a worried voice. "Can the moon be slowed down?"

"Just follow my orders, and we will succeed, or my name isn't **(Name momentarily Withheld!)**, the Master of Planetery Sieges!" the second said. "I'll take my ship and assist the plumbers and the thieves directly. You oversee the construction of the penumbra engine!"

"Understood, and good luck, sir!" the lower of the two said**.**

4:52 PM; Exit of warp pipe leading to Kongo Jungle

**watch?v=Z3_bpw90rFM**

"Why don't we visit DK more often?" Luigi asked as he saw the vast jungle of DK island. "He is pretty intelligent, for a monkey, anyway."

"He's an ape," Mario said. "And as for your question, you remember the past I have with Cranky, don't you?"

"So he gave you some competition for your girlfriend, big deal," Luigi joked.

"He kidnapped her, made me run through the city, a jungle, onto an antique ship, up a pyramid, onto an airplane, through a jungle, over an iceberg, through a valley, and up his tower... Now tell me, would you rather be the one to have done that?"

"So why are we here?" Waluigi asked. "I thought all the temples were in the Mushroom Kingdom."

"Technically, DK Island is part of the Mushroom Kingdom," Gil said over the GBH. "It's simply considered a nature reserve."

"Then why is Cranky allowed to have a lab on the island?" Mario complained. "He should be arrested and considered a dangerous criminal."

"Actually, so long as he is a part of the wildlife, we can't do anything to stop him without violating the terms of the preserve ourselves," Waluigi explained.

"How did you know that?" Luigi asked.

"To know how to break the law, you first must know how to avoid the law," Waluigi explained, "and to know how to avoid it, you have to know all about it."

"So you're saying you know plenty of legal technicalities that you can use to make it look like you're not really breaking the law at all?" Mario asked.

"Yeah, that's about it," Waluigi agreed.

"So how come you always end up running away when we try to catch you two?" Luigi asked.

"Because blubber for brains here always does something that I can't figure a way out of," Waluigi explained. "With him around, we might as well be charged for murder!"

"Hey, look!" said a high pitched voice from the trees, "DK! It's Mario and Luigi! And those two that sabotaged our kart in the Double Dash Grand Prix!"

"Hey, you're right, little buddy!" said DK as he dropped down from the trees. "What brings you four to the Kongo Jungle?"

"Hello everyone, remember me?" asked Diddy as he landed to the right of DK. "Didn't expect to see you four again so soon!"

"Is Cranky here?" Mario whispered to DK. "I don't mean to insult your family, but I really need to get somewhere fast. You two know how much he can, well..."

"Slow an adventure to a grinding halt?" DK asked. "Just don't go towards the treehouse and you'll be fine. So what is this adventure you're on?"

"Well, we have until tomorrow to find four statues of power to give these hammers the strength they need to reimprison a ten-millenia-old Yoshi before the solar eclipse," Luigi explained, "or else face the complete and total destruction of the entire world."

"Well, how many of these statues have you got?" DK asked.

"Three," Wario said, "and the last one is supposed to be here on this island."

"Not exactly," Purple said. "The entrance to the temple is underwater. This island is simply near the coral reef that makes up the temple."

"A whole temple made of coral reef?" Mario said in shock. "How does it keep the water out?"

"It's a mystical temple, it defies logic," Red replied.

"Okay... That's reassuring," Luigi sighed. "Swimming I don't mind, diving I don't mind, swimming to an underwater cave is fine with me too, so long as there's breathable air in the cave. However, I've always had a slight fear of places that defy logic."

"So that's why you kept breathing so heavily when we were on that rainbow path," Mario said. "I can't believe that after being my brother for your whole life, you just now are telling me this."

"I thought it was kind of obvious the first time that we went to Sky Land," Luigi said. "I was breathing so heavily that you could have mistaken me for an industrial fan!"

"So, any idea where this coral reef might be?" Mario asked DK.

"There are plenty of coral reefs in the oceans surrounding the island," DK said. "You could spend weeks searching for something in there!"

"Weeks?" Wario echoed.

"Yeah, like the time you and I were playing water polo with the Crystal Coconut and we dropped it into the ocean and spent a month looking for it?" Diddy asked.

"Yeah, Cranky wasn't too happy about that," DK laughed.

"Please don't mention him," Mario said.

"He's my father; what do you expect me to do, pretend he doesn't exist?" DK replied.

"Actually, that would be nice," Mario joked.

"So where are these coral reefs?" Wario asked again.

"Weren't you listening to anything we said?" Diddy asked. "The coral reefs surround the whole island... Well, actually, there is a small part of the island where K. Rool tried dumping toxic waste in as an attempt to slowly destroy the ecology where the coral hasn't grown back yet; but other than that, the whole island is surrounded by them."

"Well, they must be south of here, my village was on an island," Purple said. "I used to swim through the coral reefs all the time, hard to believe that they still exist after so long."

"DK, Diddy! Where are you two whippersnappers at?" Cranky asked from afar.

"Thanks, DK, we'll be going now," Mario whispered as he quietly walked away. After a few steps, he bumped into Cranky.

"You again?" Cranky said. "Why don't you watch where you're going, youngin'?"

"So this is the gorilla that you mistook for King Kong?" Luigi asked. "Are you sure he could even pick up Paulina?"

"Why are you here, anyway?" Cranky complained. "You have no business on this island anyway!"

"You might want to watch what you say," Mario said. "Although we're the same age, you would do well to remember that we humans don't get into old age as fast as you hair-brained monkeys!"

"Actually," Cranky laughed, "none of us here are monkeys. Junior and I are gorillas, while Diddy is a chimpanzee!"

"Please don't call me that," DK said. "It brings back memories of the cage!"

"The cage?" Wario echoed.

"When I was in the tower, I resorted to trapping DK in a cage so that I could stop DK," Mario said.

"What?" Wario said as he scratched his head. "That made no sense."

"DK here is named after his father, who is nicknamed Cranky," Mario said. "At the time I fought him, he was the alpha male of the Kongs and therefore the one that gets to be called 'DK'. Also, at that time, DK here was much too young to be able to lead his family, as he was only a few months old. At that time he was known as DK Junior."

"Please stop talking about that!" DK said.

"Sorry," Mario apologized. "We'd better get going now, nice seeing the both of you again."

"What about Diddy?" Cranky asked. "Don't tell me you didn't see him standing right by DK."

"I was talking to DK and Diddy," Mario sighed.

"We really should get going, it's already nearing sunset," Purple said. "And besides, this argument seems rather pointless."

"It is," Luigi, Diddy, and DK all said at once.

"They've been arguing about it for years," Luigi said.

"Every time they see each other!" DK agreed.

Luigi and the Wario Bros. followed Purple, and Mario soon left as well.

When they reached the ocean, everyone got ready to dive.

"Is it okay if I sit this one out?" Red asked. "I've always been afraid of water, and besides, we have no idea what it might do to us now that we're Podoboos!"

"Only one way to find out," Green said.

"Hey, water is Purple's department, and besides, ladies first!" Yellow said.

"I'm a Podoboo too, you know, but it would be a shame if I could never go in the water again," Purple said.

"You, never go in water again?" Red laughed.

"You were in the water every chance you got," Green said.

"There were plenty of fish that had less experience swimming then you did!" Yellow added. "You might as well have been a dolphin!"

"Okay, fine, I'll check," Purple said as she dove into the water. "See? Nothing bad happened."

Green and Yellow continued into the water, although Red hesitated.

"We can't go inside the temple anyway," Red reminded them, "so there's no need for any of us four to go other than Purple."

"Come on, it's only water," Green said.

"You know him and his hydrophobia, it's actually a very common fear," Yellow said. **(Just ask Sonic!)**

"You can stay on-guard," Mario said. "We'll be fine."

"Then we need to move fast," Purple said. "Waluigi, get your Quadramasher ready, the door is underwater and leads to a cave formed by the coral."

"Maybe we could just use these," Mario said as he pulled out four Metal Caps. "We still need to hurry, but these should help us."

They each donned a Metal Cap, and sank to the bottom.

"This way!" Purple said as she swam over to a huge coral reef. She looked around for a few minutes, and then found what she was looking for.

Waluigi placed the Quadramasher, and they were sucked inside by a current too strong to fight, even with the Metal Caps.

5:36 PM; Water Temple, main chamber

**watch?v=7boeDmPBZX8**

Two doors and a huge round room. That's all that it seemed to be at first glance. The water drained and allowed the plumbers to breathe easy. Additionally, the Metal Caps had worn off.

"All I can do to help you here is tell you this," Purple said, "whichever one of you believes you are the one that will be able to stop Yoshevil, you must have him step forward."

"This is easy," Wario said as he began to go up ahead.

"Wait!" Luigi said. "Just choosing someone seems too simple, there has to be a catch."

"Aren't you supposed to tell us the name of the trial first?" Waluigi asked.

"The name will be revealed when you have completed it," Purple sighed. "I only fear that this will be the hardest trial you will face on your journey. Even Yoshevil couldn't trouble you like this. I can say no more."

"Strange, that sounds like more of a riddle then most the riddles in the Wind Temple," Waluigi commented.

"Well, I think we all agree that I'm the most important, so that means it must be me," Wario said.

"I've got an idea," Mario said, "how about you get half a brain and realize that you've been hindering us more than anything!"

"No, it's not supposed to be one of us," Luigi muttered to himself.

"How about you go, then?" Waluigi said. "You're the only one that has this legacy of being a hero."

"Hey!" Wario shouted. "You're suppposed to be on my side!"

Mario and Wario both raced for the center of the room.

"Wait!" Luigi shouted. "We aren't supposed to have just one of us go in there!"

Mario and Wario both stopped. "What do you mean?" Mario asked.

"We all have to," Luigi explained. "We have to do it as a team."

"How does stepping on a tile require teamwork?" Mario asked.

"Not that, but we have to show that we can work together to stop anything that's thrown at us!" Luigi said.

"He's got a point," Waluigi agreed. "I hate to admit it, but I think he's right."

"Agreed," Mario said. "Come on, let's do this."

The four of them stepped on the tile in the middle of the room, and the door opposite the entrance opened up.

"Be right back," Waluigi said.

He walked in, grabbed the Quadramasher, and left without any trouble.

"That was rather suprising, no traps or anything," Waluigi said.

"Let's hurry up and get out of here," Purple said. "The sun will be setting soon."

6:36 PM (sunset); Water Land, warp pipe station leading to Kongo Island

**watch?v=7boeDmPBZX8**

"Let's hurry up and row back to the Koopahari Desert," Mario said as the four of them ran towards the shore.

"You're too late," Dark Peach said as she teleported from the shadows. "Give me the Quadramashers, and the two statues you have with you as well."

"You really think that we're just going to give them up?" Wario asked. "You're looking at the world's greediest thief, so no way!"

"Fine then, I'll just take them," Peach said as she activated the necklace.

"Why don't you just go back and merge with your intelligent half?" Mario said. "It's four against one, in case you didn't notice."

"Really? It seems like you're the ones that are outnumbered, by about a thousand to one!" She laughed as an army of Dry Bones came out of the ocean. Soon thereafter, a swarm of Boos materialized. As if that wasn't enough, Boolossus and van Gore were leading the two armies.

"Funny, seems like you're scared," Mario said. "If you are so powerful, then why do you need to overwhelm us with such numbers?"

"Do not presume to judge me, plumber!" Peach said. "You will find me more than a match for you! In fact, I sense your power has diminished since last we met."

"Maybe, oh princess," Mario said, "or is it only that I need not flaunt my power in such an infantile test of will?"

"See, we should have signed up under his wife; her underlings actually get to keep their command so long as they don't mess up!" Boolossus whispered to Van Gore.

"Quieet, you untalenteed swine!" Vincent shouted. "Unless you weesh to fall with zee plumairs! And you deed mess up, you eediot!"

"We messed up?" Boolossus shouted. "Look who's talking! All you've done to stop them is-"

"Not now, you fools!" Peach said. "Or I will personally make sure you pay."

"What do you intend to do, kill us?" Boolossus asked.

"I'm not like you Boos, I don't do things simply for torture." Peach laughed. "I'll use this necklace to absorb every last ounce of energy you have."

Boolossus started to think of a comeback, but was interrupted by a bolt of lightning along with Luigi shouting, "Thunderhand!" Boolossus shattered into the fifteen Boos that he consisted of.

Waluigi took his Quadramasher and defended the others from the Dry Bones. Wario took out his Poltergust and started to suck up the Boos, and Mario went after van Gore. Luigi sucked up three of the Boos, and then the rest reformed.

"Don't get any ideas, Luigi," Boolossus said. "We won't lose this time! Attack!"

The normal Boos swarmed all over the place, and the plumbers couldn't even see what was happening. Again and again the Boos hit them, and within a matter of seconds, the four of them were on the floor.

"That was easy." Boolossus laughed. "And all this time we were told you four were to be feared. Any last words?"

"Is that a UFO?" Luigi asked as he looked up.

"How stupid do you think I am?" Boolossus asked. "Now, good riddance, plumbers!"

"Vait a mineet!" van Gore shouted. "I should ve zee one to destroy zee pumairs!"

"You can finish off the fat one!" Boolossus said. "We get Luigi!"

"But Luigi eez zee one I wanteed revenge on!" Vincent argued. "Beware zat you do not make me decide to destroy you in zee process!"

"That would be a laugh! You? Stop us? Not even in your dreams!" Boolossus laughed.

Just then, a beam hit van Gore, solidifying and paralyzing him.

"What was that?" Boolossus asked, only to find that another beam was about to hit him.

"Who dares?" Peach asked.

**watch?v=0VgQR9XmDUI**

"They call me the Master of Planetary Sieges, and if anyone is going to destroy those four, it will be me," said an alien as he dropped from his spaceship. "But for now, I think they should go on a bit longer."

"And who are you?" Peach asked.

"General Tatanga, and I'm not about to be outdone by a Boo!" he replied as he blasted rapidly at the swarm of Boos. "I've been intercepting all the information that these two have sent to and recieved from the laboratories of Elvin Gadd, and therefore seen everything that's happened to them."

"General Tatanga... I've heard that name before," Peach pondered. "That's right! You're the one that took the whole Sarasa Kingdom hostage, aren't you?"

Tatanga didn't answer, but quickly ran towards Peach while firing his blaster at her. She carefully dodged, and then used the necklace to attack Tatanga. A hand came up from the ground and held Tatanga to the ground.

"Is that the best you planet dwellers can do?" Tatanga asked. "You're completely unprepared to fight an unknown enemy. You take only what you need to fight off what little you know about your foes, and that is why you can't defeat me! Unlike you, I came prepared for anything!"

Tatanga hit Peach from behind, which suprised everybody.

"How did you do that? I can still see you over there!" Peach said as she retaliated.

"Your inferior planet knows nothing of hologams?" Tatanga laughed. "This isn't even a warm up!"

The Dry Bones advanced on Tatanga's position, but were greeted with laser fire from his ship.

"Now, where were we?" Tatanga asked. "Yes, that's right, I was about to crush your bones!"

"This isn't over!" Dark Peach said as she sank into the shadows, Tatanga's punch going just over her head.

"Get in the ship," Tatanga said. "They're attacking your base."

"Thanks," Mario said. "You're the last one I would've expected to pull us out of that mess!"

"Hold your gratitude, planet dweller!" Tatanga said. "I'm just here to stop that monster from succeeding where I failed."

"Shut your yap, Tatanga!" Wario shouted. "You work for me, remember?"

"I got the raw materials I needed from you," Tatanga said. "I've no further need to listen to your orders."

"What are you talking about?" Waluigi asked.

"Shut up and get in the ship!" Tatanga shouted.

**Wow…Tatanga saved his mortal enemies! See you next time!**


	9. Chapter 9

**This is it! The final chapter!**

Chapter 9: Overshadowing the Shadows

**watch?v=dt1LqNcmNlw**

6:51 PM; Temple of Unity

There were countless Boos hammering on the entrance to the temple.

"Can you shoot them down?" Mario asked Tatanga.

"What, do you think lasers have unlimited ammo or something? This baby can hold a quarter of a million shots, but I used up about a tenth of that rescuing you four," Tatanga said. "There has to be at least two million of them there, my ship can't even figure out how many there are, and there's not enough energy in my ship for another super blast."

"If we try to fight them head on, we'll lose for certain," Waluigi said.

"If only we could fight them from inside. With such a small hallway, we'd only have to worry about a few at a time," Red said.

"Actually, if you guys are willing to move a few rocks, we could arrange that," Waluigi said as he smiled.

**A few Moments Later…**

"This is a lot easier to do with the Podoboos here," Waluigi said. "You know, Wario, this whole thing is your fault!"

"What are you talking about?" Wario sneered, "You're the one who wouldn't let me hit you!"

"Actually, Mario's the one who insisted that he and I both explore the temple in the first place," Luigi laughed.

"Well... actually, I can't think of a reason why this is your fault," Mario said to Luigi as they traveled through the cave that Wario and Waluigi had used to get into the temple for the first time.

"Here it is," Wario said. "Let's get this over with!"

They carefully moved the pile of debris, and went inside. They went to the right and into the shrine's chamber.

"Quickly, place the remaining statues!" Green shouted. "The barrier will break momentarily!"

Wario and Waluigi placed the appropriate hammers in their respective statues.

"Tornado Crush," Yellow said, not even explaining what it did.

"Geyser Strike," Purple said, doing the same.

A huge earthquake started.

"The barrier, it's dead!" Red shouted.

"Mario, you wouldn't happen to have any more useful items in those seemingly infinite pockets of yours, would you?" Luigi asked.

"Sorry, all out," Mario said. "We'll have to do this the old-fashioned way!"

"Gotcha!" Luigi agreed as the five of them prepared for the oncoming attack.

The first thing they saw was Bow, Bootler, Vivian, and James flying through in a retreat. Then, the onslaught of Boos began. Tatanga took an early initiative and started blasting at the Boos before they got within striking distance. The blasts, firing far faster than anything the plumbers could think of, quickly emptied out the blaster's ammo.

"Now it's time for a little weapons test!" Tatanga shouted as he ran towards the Boos.

"Wait!" Mario shouted. "We need to stay on the defensive."

"I know what I'm doing, planet dweller," Tatanga argued. "Just consider me the first line of defense."

Tatanga went on ahead and pulled out a long metal stick, which had a button in the very middle of it. Tatanga pressed it and it started to glow with an eerie light.

"And just what is that?" asked one of the Boos.

"This is the Phantomizer 1000, rips through ghosts like butter, and if you somehow used it against me, it would do no more harm to me than a normal stick would," Tatanga laughed. "Who's first?"

"Empty threats will get you nowhere!" said another Boo.

"Let's see you stop this!" said another as they all turned invisible.

"Plmubers, catch!" Tatanga said as he threw each of them a helmet.

"Bulky enough?" Mario joked as he put his on.

"It'll let you see the ghosts, so don't complain, planet dweller!" Tatanga said.

Tatanga fought fiercely, taking on hundreds of Boos at a time, until finally, his staff just turned off.

"I knew I should have used an anti-matter engine," Tatanga said as the Boos prepared to finish him off.

"Now!" James shouted as an explosion could be heard from the hallway.

"What was that?" Waluigi asked.

"This morning I found the remains of that Boo-omb. Then I copied it, and then I modified the copies to explode when the room reached a certain decibel level," James explained. "Also, they won't harm anyone that's alive."

"Retreat!" shouted one of the Boos that wasn't close enough to be hit by the boo-ombs.

All the Boos did as he said, and when all seemed safe, one last attacker appeared.

"You won't stop Master Yoshevil," said Gadd as the Boos ran past him. "I'm here to make sure you don't even make it past your own front door!"

"Another evil split?" Luigi asked.

"No, Yoshevil is simply controlling his mind," said a random Boo as he ran away. "But you still can't beat him."

"We'll just see about that," James said as he stepped forward. "No one has ever prevented me, the great agent 008, from successfully completing a mission!"

"And no ghost that defies my master has ever survived an encounter with me," Gadd said. "Prepare to have my hypothesis proven!"

"What hypothesis?" Luigi asked.

"That the Poltergusts that you've stolen from me will have no effect on me whatsoever." Gadd laughed. "You really thought you could take my inventions and just get away with it?"

"We didn't steal them!" Waluigi shouted. "You gave them to us!"

"Yeah, the only thing I ever took from you was your wallet," Wario said, "which didn't even have any money in it, I might add!'

"Shut your yaps, youngins!" Gadd shouted. "You haven't a chance against me!"

Gadd pulled out one of the princess' blow dryers and aimed it at Tatanga.

"Please, you think your little toy gun scares me?" Tatanga asked.

"That's not a gun," Mario said, "it's a blow dryer."

"It's still a pathetic choice of weaponry," Tatanga said. "If you want to make any changes to your will, now would be the time to do it, old man!"

Tatanga rushed towards Gadd, but when Gadd pulled the trigger of the blow dryer, it shot out a burst of flames. The torches in the hallway were instantly burnt to a crisp, and Tatanga's armor was completely incinerated.

"Okay, I think I'll be going now," Tatanga said as he ran out through the hole in the wall.

"Let's surround him," Wario said.

"Good idea, for once," Mario said.

The Mario Bros. jumped behind Gadd and the Wario Bros. ran in front of him.

"Four against one; I feel sorry for you," Gadd said.

"What about us?" James asked. "We can still fight."

"Not anymore, you can't!" Gadd shouted as he sucked James up into his own Poltergust 3002.

Wario got his Quadramasher ready, and stated spinning around as fast as he could while holding the Quadramasher out. He spun faster and faster, until finally, a tornado shot out from where he was standing towards Gadd. Gadd quickly set the Poltergust in reverse and blew the tornado back towards Wario. Luigi, however, got out his Poltergust and pulled the tornado towards himself, and therefore, towards the professor. The tornado stood still with the two conflicting machines trying to make it go in opposite directions, until it simply dissipated into the air.

"Try this one on for size, gramps!" Waluigi shouted as he pounded his Quadramasher on the floor. Gadd quickly stepped out of the way as a huge geyser soon appeared where he was standing. Gadd ran towards the Wario Bros. and pulled their caps down over their faces, then ran past them.

"Is he retreating?" Luigi asked.

"We shouldn't take any chances," Mario said. "We need to keep him at close quarters."

Luigi nodded and rushed up ahead to catch up with the professor. Mario followed shortly.

"Persistant little whippersnappers," Gadd said. "Time I taught you to respect your elders!"

Gadd pulled the Flame-Blower out and pointed it at Luigi. The flames shot out as the professor slowly waved the Flame-Blower back and forth, setting fire to both of the Mario Brothers' hats.

"YEOUCH!" Wario shouted. "He's burning my hat! I'm too rich to wear a burnt hat!"

"He's not- yow! He's not burning your- mamamia!" Mario tried to say, "He isn't burning your hat, he's burning ours!"

Wario and Waluigi fixed their caps and went towards the professor.

"Let's try something new," Waluigi said. "Initiate Elemental Thief Bros. attack!"

"What?" Wario asked. "I call the shots around here!"

Waluigi prepared his Quadramasher, and pointed in front of Gadd while saying. "Wario! Make a tornado there!"

"This oughta be fun!" Wario said as he spun around, creating another tornado.

When the tornado was in the right spot, Waluigi pounded his Quadramasher on the ground, shooting water through the tornado and at the professor, and knocking the wise old owl out. Mario ran up to the professor and checked his pulse.

"He'll be fine," Mario said. "He's simply unconscious. Luckily, no real harm was done."

"Let's go!" Wario said. "It's time I took that ring Yoshevil wears!"

"We need to stop him before he creates more mischief than we could ever compete with!" Waluigi said. "No one outdoes Waluigi in the area of mischief!"

"Gadd's a good freind of mine, and Yoshevil made us fight our friends on multiple accounts," Luigi added. "He won't get away with what he's done!"

"He's turned Peach into a monster, framed Bowser in an attempt to trap me..." Mario started. "He decided to be released the day before I was planning on proposing to Peach..."

"You weren't going to propose," Luigi interupted. "You said it yourself, until Bowser is a thing of the past, you're not going to propose to Peach."

"It's my turn to be upset at Yoshevil," Mario said. "And lastly, no one destroys Bowser's Castle but me!"

"You really aren't used to this being angry thing, are you?" Wario asked.

"No, not really," Mario admitted. "To Rogueport?"

"Where am I?" Gadd asked as woke up. "Mario, Luigi? How did I get here?"

"You okay, Professor?" Luigi asked. "You aren't in the mood to hurt us or anything?"

"Why would I attack you two?" Gadd asked. "If I wanted to get rid of you two, I would have just let Luigi go into the mansion without the Poltergust 3000!"

"Glad to have you back," Mario said. "Do you know how we can get to Rogueport before tomorrow?"

"Don't worry about that, I'm back," said Tatanga, who was wearing replacement armor, which didn't look any different than his original armor. "And in case you forget, my ship can get there easily."

"Do you even know where Rogueport is?" Mario asked.

"I've been studying you ever since our first encounter," Tatanga explained. "I've got detailed maps from everywhere you've been, planet dweller."

"Then we're off to the Palace of Shadows," Mario said.

12:00 Midnight (Twelve Hours Remain); South Mushroom Sea, north of Rougepost

**watch?v=pNqb1zUN9j**

"I can see DK Island to the north," Luigi said. "Why aren't we going in closer for a drop?"

"Because they might have surveilance satelites," Tatanga said. "You may be primitive, but you aren't blind."

"If we're so primitive," Mario smiled, "then why was it so easy to defeat you?"

"Don't aggrivate me, planet dweller!" Tatanga yelled. "You know that I've improved my weaponry since then! Now that I have my full arsenal on the moon... the moon! I'd better notify my troops and see how they're doing."

"What are you talking about?" Waluigi asked.

"I'm building a massive engine on the moon to slow its orbit, therefore prolonging the time we have to destroy Yoshevil," Tatanga explained.

"Too risky," Gadd argued. "A lunar abnormality of that proportion could easily cause the tides to be disturbed, therefore doing more damage than good."

"I'm not cancelling anything," Tatanga said. "My troops have their orders, and if you don't succeed in six hours, I will fire the cannon," Tatanga explained. "You've got five of what you call hours and fifty minutes until I unleash the Penumbra Engine's full potential."

"Gadd's right, it's too risky," Mario said."Give the order to terminate the launch or you won't make it to see us stop Yoshevil."

Tatanga reached behind his back, pulled out his blaster, and pointed it at Mario.

"I can hit a target from five miles away with ease," Tatanga explained. "So shooting you from five feet, it will be impossible for me to miss."

"It'll be the last shot that ever comes from that blaster," Mario said, "because you couldn't hit me if you put that thing to my head!"

"I could easily prove you wrong at any time, planet dweller," Tatanga said. "Just go ahead and say one more word, I challenge you, planet dweller!"

Mario started to accept Tatanga's challenge when Gadd grabbed him by the shoulder and said, "Not now, Mario. I know Tatanga can't be trusted, but he is a powerful ally, and we can't afford any more enemies right now."

"You're right." Mario sighed. "At least I'm not working with Bowser again..."

"I guess this gives a new definition to the phrase, 'In war, your only allies are enemies'," Luigi said. "Right, Mario?"

"Never heard of that one before," Mario said, "but I guess that's true. Where'd you get that phrase from?"

"That's the motto of the game StarCraft," Luigi explained. "Playing your typing game is okay, but I prefer that instead."

"You weren't playing it on my computer again, were you, Luigi?" Gadd asked.

"Of course not. Of all the things to do with a homemade supercomputer estimated to be a multibillion dollar investment that really only cost you fifty dollars and five days to fix, why would I be playing a video game?" Luigi asked. "Why the pure thought of it is absolutely ridiculous, Professor!"

"Gil, when is the last time the file has been activated?" Gadd asked after taking the GBH from Luigi.

"Exactly one week ago as of today," Gil Bates said, "at percisely 3:11 AM."

Everyone just stared at Luigi.

"What?" Luigi asked. "I couldn't do it while he was awake, he was always busy improving the computer. And I couldn't just let the servants of the Overmind run amuck!"

"Luigi, it's nothing more than a video game. Who in the world gets up at three in the morning to play a game?" Mario sighed. "Nevermind, everyone ready?"

"You got it, Bro!" Luigi said.

"Waluigi number one!" Waluigi consented.

"That ghost is toast!" Wario shouted.

"Who ya gonna call?" the professor asked.

"Count me in," Tatanga agreed. "Besides, I've recharged my ammo, and now that I know that the Phantomizer 1000 works properly, I'll bring both of them for backup weapons."

"Us four will stay here and gaurd the shrine," James said. "Good luck, everyone!"

1:15 AM; Rougeport Sewers, the Thousand-Year Door

**watch?v=_2d7NiGffiU**

"This is the Thousand-Year Door?" Luigi asked. "Looks nice, considering the evil that it hides."

"Nice?" Wario laughed. "I'd like to put that door in my vault!"

"Let's go," Red said. "Be careful, we've no idea what this place is like. When we fought Yoshevil, he came to us."

"Be ready for anything," Green explained, "and expect the unexpected."

"Don't get caught off guard," Yellow continued, "and always make sure to put your opponent in that predicament."

"And most importantly," Purple said, "never forget that you all need to work together to do this."

The four of them nodded as they opened the door. The palace seemed empty at first glance. Then, Yoshevil himself appeared.

"I'm not going to fight you, not yet," Yoshevil said. "I just wanted to say, I'm rather impressed, and someone impressing me doesn't happen often. You've broke the professor of my mind control, humiliated my minions, given me plenty of laughs by forgetting about my curse on numerous occasions, restored power to the Quadramashers in only three days, defeated a swarm of my minions that outnumbered you ten thousand to one, and to top it all off, you reached the Palace of Shadows unharmed... Perhaps I misjudged you four."

"Does this mean that you're surrendering?" Wario asked.

Yoshevil laughed, smiled, and said, "I like a sense of humor, so I'll give you four one last chance: join me, or suffer the fate I meant for Hyrule!"

"Hyrule? But that's in an entirely different dimension!" Mario said. "Is Link here?"

"No, but he will die eventually, by my hands; he won't get away with destroying my plans," Yoshevil said.

"What are you talking about?" Luigi asked. "Link never said anything about fighting Yoshis."

Yoshevil chuckled sinisterly, then smiled and explained, "I've many forms in many different dimensions. If I'm defeated in one, I travel to another dimension and have fun there. I've had my share of losses, but never until then was I defeated by a child."

"If I treated Link like a child, I probably wouldn't have won the Super Smash Bros. tournament," Mario admitted. "Tell us, what was your name in Hyrule?"

"Why are you asking me if you already know the answer?" Yoshevil asked., "I can see it in your eyes; when you talked to Link, he must have told you about it."

"You were known as Majora when in Hyrule, weren't you?" Mario asked.

"You mean that mask that Link said tried to destroy that whole planet by crashing the moon into Termina?" Luigi asked.

"Very good, but do not think that you will be so lucky," Yoshevil laughed. "Do you accept my offer?"

"Before we deny your offer, I've got one question for you," Waluigi asked. "If you're called by Yoshevil and Majora, which is your real name?"

"I've so many names: Yoshevil, Majora, Giygas, but I only remember these because they remind me of those I need revenge on," Yoshevil explained. "Take your pick, I've no true name."

"Fine then," Waluigi said. "Now that that's all done with... Wait... Why are we declining his offer?"

"Because even if we wanted to join him, he couldn't be trusted any farther then we could throw him," Mario said.

"Right," Wario agreed. "Just remember not to use the phrase when talking about Bowser."

"Fine then," Yoshevil laughed. "It's your funerals, not mine! I'll be waiting for you four in my main chamber, and these six can tag along if you wish. If you make it to the throne room, then I'll fight you."

"But you'll never make it that far," said a voice from the shadows. "Tell me, Wario, do you really find it wise to insult me while I'm in the same room as you?"

"Bowser?" Wario asked. "You're working for this chump, too?"

Bowser stepped into the light. Instead of his normal intimidating collar, he was wearing an electronic one.

"What is that?" Gadd asked. "And why does it have my company logo on it?"

"Why wouldn't it?" Yoshevil asked as he vanished. "You made it!"

"I really wish I could remember what went on when I was under his mind control," Gadd said.

"Mario!" Bowser shouted. "Prepare yourself for the great beyond!"

"So you're helping Yoshevil... Why?" Wario asked.

"First of all, he wants to kill Mario," Bowser laughed maniacally. "And second of all, if I don't do what he says, this collar puts enough electricity through me to make my brain stop working for half an hour!"

"What brain?" Mario taunted.

"You'll pay for that, plumber!" Bowser shouted as he lunged towards Mario with a swipe of his right claw.

Waluigi ran behind Bowser and prepared to strike his back. Luigi jumped to Bowser's right, and Wario to his left.

"We've got you surrounded," Mario said. "You can't even take me alone, so how do you expect to stop all six of us?"

"Six?" Bowser repeated. "Who else is here?"

"You'll have to deal with me too," Gadd reminded him.

"You? Fight? You've got to be kidding me, old man!" Bowser laughed. "You only won last time because I was weakened from my battle against King Boo!"

"I defeated you before?" Gadd asked.

"Never mind, but that's still only five of you," Bowser said.

"Oh look, Bowser finally learned how to count," Mario mocked. "Now we just need to teach you how to write your name!"

"That's it, I'm eating fried plumber tonight!" Bowser shouted as he inhaled.

Mario jumped aside as Bowser blew his fire breath. Bowser focused all his attacks on Mario, practically forgetting that there was anyone else in the room. Bowser swiped both his claws at Mario, and bit the plumber's leg after his slaws missed.

"Ouch!" Mario shouted as he pulled out his Quadramasher.

Mario banged Bowser's head, getting the Koopa off his leg. Mario jumped on top of Bowser's head and swung at Bowser's head again. Bowser shook Mario off before the attack could connect. Just as Mario was about to use the Ultra Fire Drive, Bowser fell to the ground unconscious.

"Tatanga," Bowser said as he fainted.

"Now why did you do that?" Mario asked. "I had everything under control."

"We have little time to waste, planet dweller," Tatanga reminded Mario, "unless you want me to launch the Penumbra Engine."

"You're right, and this palace is huge," Mario agreed. "Thank you."

"I told you before, planet dweller, I'm not interested in your gratitude," Tatanga said. "I'm simply here to ensure that my people remain the dominant species in the universe."

"But if you're the dominant species, then why did you work for me for that short time?" Wario asked.

"You had something I needed," Tatanga explained. "Let's go, I didn't have any more real ammo."

"What do you mean 'real ammo'?" Waluigi asked.

"What he has with him only stunned Bowser, it won't harm anything," Gadd explained. "Bowser is merely paralyzed for the time being."

"Correct," Tatanga said, "which is why we'd better keep moving."

1:22 AM; Palace of Shadows, Throne Room

**watch?v=h4Ky4qDyNgE**

"They're here already?" the Shadow Queen asked. "They are stronger than I thought; perhaps I should deal with them personally."

"Those four are not what worries me," Yoshevil said, "but the one that I do fear is with them."

"He will not stop us," she reassured him, "and it is time that my servant proved her usefulness."

"As you wish," Dark Peach said, appearing from the hall behind the throne. "I will destroy them all."

"One question," Yoshevil said. "Whatever happened to my favorite pet?"

"You mean Gloomtail?" the Shadow Queen asked. "Mario and Vivian did away with him."

"Vivian? You don't mean your own Shadow Siren Vivian, do you?" Yoshevil asked.

"Yes," she admitted.

"Make sure they suffer," Yoshevil said.

1:32 AM; Palace of Shadows, room of the eight trials

**watch?v=LlVC3AGHiGk**

"Are we supposed to take these keys out?" Waluigi asked.

"No, I had to put them in last time I was here," Mario explained. "We go up the stairs."

Just then, the stairs rose up into the ceiling.

"What did I just say?" Mario asked. "Put the key back!"

"Now is that any way to talk to a lady?" Dark Peach asked as she revealed, herself holding a key. "A princess at that, I should mention."

"Come back for more?" Tatanga asked as he aimed his blaster at her.

"Please, the only reason you were able to shoot me last time was because I didn't even know you were there," she explained. "Do not think you'll be so lucky this time."

Peach immediately activated the necklace, shooting a beam of dark energy out directly at Tatanga. Tatanga was knocked to the ground, and badly weakened. He reached for his pocket and pulled out a radio communications device.

"The is General Tatanga," he said. "Activate the Penumbra Engine immediately!"

"There's a problem, sir!" said a technician over the radio. "We have some Dark Boos attacking the base and we can't finish construction!"

"You're telling me the entire fleet is unable to stop a single swarm of Boos?" Tatanga shouted. "Your orders are to destroy the boos, finish the engine, and fire it as soon as possible!"

"Sir, we can't, the Boos, there are too many! We have no choice, we must retreat!" the technician argued.

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Tatanga said, "but give the orders to withdraw the fleet."

"Yes sir!" the technician said. "We'll have the mothership standing by for your return."

"No," Tatanga said. "Get the whole fleet out of there, initiate a full scale retreat!"

"Understood, good luck, General!" the technician said.

"No one forces me to withdraw my fleet," Tatanga muttered as he pulled out a Phantomizer.

"I already know that thing won't hurt me," Peach said. "How foolish do you think I am?"

Tatanga didn't activate the Phantomizer. Instead, he used it like a ninja would a bo staff, attacking her with it directly. Peach easily dodged most of the swipes, and whenever a blow was about to hit her, created a barrier of shadow energy to protect herself. Wario got behind her and sent a tornado towards Peach. She dodged it, and it hit Tatanga instead.

"Watch where you're aiming that thing!" Tatanga shouted as he got back up after being thrown into the wall.

"Is that all the great General Tatanga has in him?" Peach taunted. "Really, I expected more from someone so feared."

Luigi shot a bolt of lightning at Peach, which she blocked with a shadow barrier. Waluigi created a geyser, which finally hit Peach.

"Talk about a low blow," Wario laughed. "Who would've thought you could attack somebody from underneath them, right?"

"That's it!" Mario said. "Waluigi, hit this!"

Mario created a fireball, threw it into the air, and lobbed it towards Waluigi with his Quadramasher. Waluigi hit the fireball with a geyser, creating a huge cloud of steam. Gadd decided to suck it up with his Poltergust. When he was finished, he saw everyone but Luigi lieing on the floor. Wario was fighting Tatanga, Waluigi was fighting Mario, while Luigi and Peach were just waiting for the steam to clear.

"There's one for the newspapers," Peach laughed. "All I have to worry about now is the coward."

"Not quite," Luigi said as he pounded his Quadramasher on the floor, causing an earthquake.

However, the room was still.

"Don't tell me this place is quake-proof!" Luigi said. "That was all we had left!"

Peach walked up to Luigi and started to activate the necklace. When she prepared to shoot a blast of dark energy out of it, Luigi immediately shot out a bolt of lightning with his Thunderhand attack. Peach fell to the floor.

"Not like I was planning whatsoever," Mario said, "but it still worked, so- hey! You two can stop fighting now!"

"You were on my payroll!" Wario argued as he and Tatanga exchanged punches with one another.

"Name one time you actually paid anyone on your payroll!" Tatanga shouted as he was given a black eye.

"How dare you?!" Peach shouted as she got back up. "You'll pay for that, Luigi!"

Mario swung his Quadramasher at the necklace, shattering it and causing her to lose her shadow powers.

"Professor, do you have anything we can use to keep her out of trouble until we can get her brain back?" Mario asked.

"Try this. It's not my own invention, but it should do the trick just fine," Gadd said as he dug through a backpack.

"Really, what's it called?" Mario asked.

"It's really a miraculous device that I like to call a rope," Gadd laughed as he handed Mario a rope. "I'm surprised you never heard of it!"

"Haha, very funny," Mario said sarcastically as he tied Peach up. "Though I must say, I'm the last person I would expect to be tieing up Peach."

"Can't say I would've expected you to ever do it," Luigi agreed.

"Ready to do this?" Tatanga asked.

Wario took the key that Peach had taken out, and placed it back in the keyhole, which lowered the stairs back into their spiraling form. The ten of them continued on.

5:57 AM; Palace of Shadows, Gloomtail's room

**watch?v=_EhA1L5yXHI**

"I remember this," Mario said. "This is where I fought that dragon."

"I remember it too," said Vivian as she appeared.

"Vivian, why are you here?" Luigi asked. "I thought you were back with Bow and James guarding the shrine of unity."

"I figured you guys could use some help. I used to live here, in case you forgot," Vivian said.

"No sense in asking you to turn back now," Gadd said, "and we could use some help."

Vivian approached them, and then punched Mario in the face, knocking the four plumbers to the floor.

"I never thought I'd be happy that Vivian was a traitor," said the Shadow Queen, still disguised as Vivian. "Now that I'm used to this young girl's body-"

"She's an adult, you know," Gadd interupted.

"Compared to me, you're nothing more than a young boy," the Shadow Queen said.

"Good point," Gadd agreed.

"Prepare to be swallowed by the eternal darkness!" the Shadow Queen said as she showed her true form.

Just then, the room started shaking. Everyone except Tatanga was confused.

"I see that you were able to get the Penumbra Engine working after all," Tatanga said over the radio.

"Sorry, but this is where it all ends," said a Boo on the other end. "You see, we've finished construction on this machine your troops were making, but we set in reverse! Now, instead of buying you time, the eclipse will occur in one hour!"

"Well, it looks pretty hopeless for you now, doesn't it?" the Shadow Queen laughed. "You don't stand a chance against me, much less getting past me and to my husband in less than an hour!"

"Everyone, go on ahead!" Tatanga shouted. "This is my prey."

"You sure?" Luigi asked.

"I'll be fine, you planet dwellers just make sure you stay alive long enough for me to conquer you, got it?" Tatanga asked. "The path is too long, you'll have to hurry if you're to make it within an hour!"

"Don't die, or else I'll fire you, got it?" Wario asked.

"Come on!" said Waluigi as he pulled Wario away.

The plumbers, Gadd, and the Podoboos went on ahead.

"Just you and me now!" Tatanga said.

"You fool!" the Shadow Queen laughed, "'No more can you evade my wrath... then you can your own shadow!'"

Tatanga just smiled and pressed a button on his gauntlet. Several holograms of Tatanga appeared, and they all "attacked" the Shadow Queen along with the real one. Tatanga kept throwing simple punches, while the Shadow Queen simply absorbed the attacks. The Shadow Queen sent a swarm of shadow hands to attack Tatanga, but he activated a forcefield before the attack could connect. However, the Shadow Queen now knew which one was real, as the shadow hands simply went through the holograms' fields, while they bounced off of the real Tatanga's forcefield. Tatanga disengaged his forcefield and took out his blaster. He blasted away at the Shadow Queen while reaching for a strange golfball-sized machine on his belt. He pressed a lone button on it, and threw it. He then looked away, and a blinding flash of light was emmitted from the machine. When it stopped Tatanga looked around and saw that the Shadow Queen was gone.

"A weapon for every occasion," Tatanga laughed. "That was easy."

Just then, Tatanga pulled his blaster back out and shot the last of his ammunition as he turned around to see that the Shadow Queen was hiding.

"Too easy," Tatanga said. "You really think I'd be so gullible? You're going to have to do better than that!"

"Foolish being," the Shadow Queen laughed. "It seems you're unable to fire anymore; looks like you're the one who needs to do better."

The Shadow Queen shot a large beam of shadow energy from her hands, tearing right through Tatanga.

"Very foolish indeed," the Shadow Queen laughed. "Now, to stop those- what?"

Tatanga appeared unharmed by the shadow energy, just standing as he was before. Then, Tatanga held his gun right up to the Shadow Queen from behind her.

"I never get tired of having that hologram projector," Tatanga laughed. "Say goodnight!"

"You think I'm afraid of an empty gun?" the Shadow Queen laughed.

"No, but there's one problem: my gun isn't empty, it's simply out of laser cells."

"Without which, all you're doing is wasting electricty."

"Not quite." Tatanga laughed.

The blaster was beeping with an annoying tone, until it simply exploded. Tatanga's hand was burnt from it, but he was otherwise fine. The Shadow Queen, however, was knocked away, and Peach was knocked unconscious before she could even open her eyes.

"As your own servant said, 'Nothing in life is that easy!' Perhaps Hooktail was the most intelligent warrior you had," Tatanga laughed. "Well, it's all up to the planet dwellers now."

6:45 AM (15 minutes remain); Palace of Shadows, throne room

**watch?v=qcs5vyOS1Lg**

"I was beggining to wonder if you were going to make it." Yoshevil laughed as the heroes entered the room. "I must say, I'm impressed."

"Let's hurry up and do this!" Mario said as the four of them surrounded Yoshevil. They pounded the Quadramashers into the floor at the exact same time, shooting out the elemental power that each of them had. The four of them looked up and saw Yoshevil unharmed.

"Is this the part where I'm supposed to be scared?" Yoshevil mocked. "Oh no, the Shrine of Unity is powering the Quadramashers again... Come on, did you four really expect to get me the same way twice?"

"It worked when we fought you," Red said, "so we were kind of hoping."

"You fools!" Yoshevil laughed. "Last time it was nowhere near a solar eclipse, and you baited me into that temple!"

"Wait a minute!" Luigi said. "Before we have this epic battle, I have a few questions for you."

"I need to stall anyways, so go ahead." Yoshevil laughed.

"Have you ever been known as the Darkmatter in any of the dimensions you've been to?" Luigi asked.

"No; Darkmatter is a friend of mine, and we don't hunt on each other's territory," Yoshevil explained. "Besides, I don't find beating up gumballs as fun as making whole dimensions suffer at a time."

"What about Ganondorf?" Luigi asked.

"If I was Ganondork, how could I be Majora in the same dimension?" Yoshevil asked.

"Good point; what about Andross?"

"Never even heard of him."

"Mother Brain?"

"Do I look like I'm a woman to you?"

"The Nightmare King?"

"I already told you, I don't hunt on Darkmatter's territory."

"Giygas?"

"I already told you that when I told you that I was Majora!"

"Count Dracula?"

"You have way too much free time on your hands, you know that?"

"Just checking."

"No, he's right about that," Mario said. "You really need to find a hobby."

"What's the professor doing?" Wario asked.

Gadd had a small piece of a machine in his hands that he was working on.

"Not sure, but we haven't any time to find out!" Mario said.

"Don't think this means that I'm going to help you be a hero when this is over," Wario said.

"Same here," Waluigi said.

"Mayogas, prepare to be defeated!" Luigi shouted.

Everyone gave him a strange look except the professor, who was too occupied in his work.

"I combined the three names, Yoshevil, Giygas, and Majora," Luigi explained.

"You really do have too much time on your hands," Green said.

"Can we stop discussing my free time?!" Luigi said sternly. "I get the picture!"

"Very well," Yellow said. "Just make sure you get a hobby after this is over."

"You cannot survive!" Yoshevil shouted as his jewel started to glow. "You can't last five minutes against me, not that it would do you any good, seeing as you only have ten to stop me!"

The four Podoboos were pushed back into the wall.

"He's created a barrier of dark energy!" Purple explained. "We can't stay here; I'm afraid you four are on your own!"

"It's okay!" Mario said. "We'll be fine! Get out of here while you still can."

Yoshevil inhaled, and when he exhaled, a tornado appeared, which went towards Mario. Mario tried to jump aside, and would have succeeded if tornadoes didn't draw things towards themselves. The tornado sucked Mario up, and shot him into the barrier. Wario was on the opposite side of Yoshevil from Mario, and used the opportunity to create his own tornado, which went right through Yoshevil. Although it threw him into the barrier which he had created, he retaliated immediately and showed no sign of the attack having done anything more then moving him.

"Why didn't he phase through it?" Luigi asked.

"My reaction to battle is a bit slower then I remember; I guess I'm a bit out of shape." Yoshevil laughed. "Guess that means this warm-up will help me to get back into shape!"

"Are you sure this guy was beaten by a ten-year-old?" Wario asked. "I can't imagine Link doing much of anything to this guy with that pocket knife he carries with him."

"He was defeated by Ness, too, so he's been defeated by a ten-year-old on two separate occasions," Mario said. "Nonetheless, we can't afford to underestimate him!"

"And Ninten, remember? Giygas was also Giegue." Luigi pointed out.

Mario got back up and signaled to Wario. Wario wound up his swing, and Mario shot an Ultra Fire Drive directly at Wario. Wario created a tornado, which sucked up the flames and shot them all over the place. Yoshevil dodged several fireballs which were shot from the tornado.

"That all you got?" Yoshevil asked. "Tell me when you're ready for a real fight!"

**Meanwhile…**

"We know what we've got to do," Red said.

"I agree, it's the only way," Green agreed.

"As do I, but you three realize we probably won't come out of this alive..." Yellow said.

"Ten thousand years too late for that." Purple laughed. "And besides, we're doomed for certain if Yoshevil isn't stopped before the eclipse."

The four of them flew through the barrier, bearing the pain, and flew towards the Quadramashers that each of them used to hold. They disappeared.

"What just happened?" Waluigi asked.

"We only have a minute until the eclipse," Red explained, "which is about as long as we'll survive."

"We're powering up the Quadramashers with all our strength," Green said. "Don't worry about us!"

"You have to stop Yoshevil now, or else all is lost!" Yellow added. "You four have to work together!"

"Thank you for everything you've done to uphold the traditions of our people," Purple said. "Now, as our final request, we ask that you show evil that it cannot destroy righteousness!"

The four plumbers nodded as the Quadramashers glowed brightly. The four of them surrounded Yoshevil again.

"How dense can you guys be?" Yoshevil asked. "Didn't you notice that this did nothing last time? Well, you've only got a few seconds left, so I might as well laugh at your idiotic desperate attempts to escape my wrath!"

They ignored him and pounded the Quadramashers into the ground. A beam of light broke the barrier, and Yoshevil seemed to be shrinking. However, it was too late. The eclipse had begun. The seal started to weaken just as it looked as though it had swallowed him whole.

"You fools thought you could defeat me? How can you defeat me? By destroying me you would have only made me stronger!" Yoshevil laughed. "Now, it is time to obtain the power that will destroy you!"

Yoshevil laughed as the Palace of Shadow disappeared, revealing the solar eclipse.

"You should be honored to hear this poem: only the most persistent of annoyances survive long enough to be destroyed by it!" Yoshevil laughed as he started to recite the poem:

"Ancient chaos, hear that which you are!

Become one with I, that which swallows the star!

Darkness and light eat each other away!

Only allow I, the chaos to stay!"

?:? ?M; Realm of Chaos

**For Fans of the story: watch?v=gk4m6NtIqag**

**For Earthbound fans: watch?v=Q2Xf0qz1IfQ**

**For Majora's Mask fans: watch?v=hVyTt0K458s**

The place looked like it was made of pure shadows, all forming what looked like an artistic depiction of a black hole. Yoshevil had disappeared, and other then the four of them, no one else seemed to be around.

"What happened?" Luigi asked. "This looks bad."

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious!" Waluigi said sarcastically.

"We haven't lost yet," Mario said.

"Show yourself, you coward!" Wario shouted.

"You fools, I'm right here!" said Yoshevil as he appeared. "And now I'm invincible!"

"That's what Bowser said to me when he got the Star Rod," Mario laughed. "I don't know the meaning of the word invincible!"

"Then perhaps it's best I show you!" Yoshevil shouted as he rushed towards Mario. "Just like Red, whoever controls fire always seems to be the first to upset me." Yoshevil laughed.

Wario sent a tornado at Yoshevil, which he stopped, and sent back at Wario a hundred times stronger.

"Don't you fools see? I consume worlds as a hobby," Yoshevil snarled. "I've succeeded countless times, and you have no hope of stopping me now that my plan is complete!"

Luigi created an earthquake, sending rocks shooting at . The chaos threw everything out of proportion, causing the rocks that shot out to be the size of a planet. Because of the immense power of the blow, Luigi was hurt from using it, and he was sent flying backwrds.

"There's no possible way he can survive that!" Waluigi said.

The gargantuan boulders hit Yoshevil with unbelievable force, but when the dust had cleared, Yoshevil was still there, unharmed, not even blinking.

"Don't you see? There is no one who can defeat me!" Yoshevil laughed. "I am unstoppable!"

"He's right; whenever we attack him, he's able to overpower it and send it right back at us!" Waluigi noticed. "Even when he didn't touch Luigi, the earthquake hurt Luigi and didn't even phase Yoshevil!"

"Maybe his strength is infinite," Luigi said.

"I can't believe this, but we've lost," Mario said as a tear came from his eye.

"Hey! Stop crying, you big baby!" Wario said as he punched Mario in the face. "We've put up with each other for too long to just give up now!"

"Wow!" Luigi gasped. "I never expected Wario to be one to give a good pep talk!"

"And he's actually right, we've come too far," Waluigi agreed.

"You're right. And you've just shown me how we can stop him," Mario smiled. "We're going to make a much stronger seal then the last one."

"Good, now tell me so that we can put that hat in my vault!" Wario said.

"Never mind," Luigi said. "He still stinks at pep talks."

"Let's do this!" Mario said.

The four of them surrounded Yoshevil again.

"Maybe there is something greater than my power," Yoshevil laughed, "the stupidity of you four!"

They ignored him and held up the Quadramashers, but instead of using them at the same time, Mario hit first, shooting flames towards Luigi. Luigi created an earthquake that combined with the fire to make a flow of lava, which was now headed for Wario. Wario created a tornado, which combined with the lava to make a storm of brimstone which was headed for Waluigi. Waluigi used the geyser crush to redirect the brimstone, and combined with the other three elements to make a beam of pure light. The light headed straight for Mario, who then added more fire to it and hit it back to Luigi, and the cycle started all over again: Luigi to Wario, Wario to Waluigi, Waluigi to Mario. And again it was repeated, each time the light glowing brighter and brighter. Yoshevil then realized what they were doing.

"No! You're creating energy that's the exact opposite of chaos!" Yoshevil shouted. "I won't let you do this! I will consume all!"

Yoshevil tried to fly up, but the plumbers had already started to step closer to each other, making the area of safety for the ghost narrower and narrower, until finally, the four of them were within striking distance of the evil Boo. The four of them struck him at the same time, sending the energy of pure order surging through Yoshevil. Since Yoshevil was made of pure chaos energy, the beam tore through him like he was nothing more than thin air.

7:00 AM; Palace of Shadows, throne room

**watch?v=M4rxJz-FETw**

Yoshevil was weakened, but he was still there.

"I'll be back," Yoshevil threatened, "and this is the first world on my list for revenge, seeing as I've been banished from it several times, Termina only once, and three times from Eagleland. So, I guess I'll be seeing you later, when it's time to eradicate you once and for all!"

"No you don't!" Gadd shouted as he pulled out his Kronos Reactor. "You see, this machine is the pinacle of my achievements, and even more dangerous then you."

"Oh really, exactly what does it do?" Yoshevil asked. "Kronos, what an unoriginal name, everyone knows that's the name of the greek titan of the sky and... You don't mean, it can't be!"

"Yes, named after the titan of time itself!" Gadd smiled. "And now to rid this universe of your dangers and its own at the same time! I'm trapping you within a time loop, which you'll never be able to escape from, nor will the Kronos engine itself!"

"I'd really like to be trapped inside that shrine right about now," Yoshevil said as Gadd threw the Kronos reactor at Yoshevil.

It stopped in midair, and so did Yoshevil. At first, it seemed that they were merely frozen in time. Then, all of a sudden, without even the smallest fraction of a period of time to separate the difference, Yoshevil and the Kronos engine disappeared.

"You did it!" Red shouted happily.

"So what do we do now?" Green asked.

"If I recall correctly, we were playing Monopoly: Mushroom Kingdom Edition," Yellow said.

"As we have been for the last thousand years," Purple sighed.

"Got anything better to do?" Red asked.

"No," Purple admitted, "but I want to be able to use the Toad as my peace this time!"

"I call the Koopa!" Yellow said.

"Why do I always get stuck with the Goomba?" Green asked.

"We're forever indebted to you." Red smiled.

"Is there anything we can do to repay you?" Green asked.

"You bet there is!" Wario shouted. "I never got my reward!"

"Here we go again!" Waluigi sighed as he and his brother started to chase after the Podoboos.

Just then, Peach came in.

"Mario!" she shouted. "Why do I feel like I've been in two places at once?"

"You know, it's a funny story, but if you wouldn't mind sitting down for a few hours, I'd love to explain!" Mario laughed.

**End of Line**


End file.
